Spatial and temporal variations in incised valley systems from the Durban continental shelf, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

The evolution of several incised valley systems from the KwaZulu-Natal shelf is compared over time. These represent the shelf extension of the collective Durban Harbour drainage system, and the Mgeni, Mhlanga, and Mdloti Rivers. Two main ages of incision are apparent; early Santonian (Cretaceous), and late Pleistocene/Holocene. The early valleys formed by tectonic controls, namely phases of higher frequency base level fall superimposed on lower frequency, higher order transgression. The results are complex networks of stacked compound valleys that have been exploited by some of the younger networks formed by glacio-eustatic fall prior to the last glacial maximum (LGM) of ~ 18 Ka BP. The valley fills have evolved from high energy basal fluvial deposits, low-energy central basin fines, mixed-energy estuarine mouth plug deposits, clay-rich flood deposits through capping sandy shoreface deposits. The earliest fills are dominated by central basin deposits and were underfilled as a result of low gradient and limited sediment supply. The more recent late Pleistocene/Holocene fills have significantly thicker fluvial deposits as a result of increased gradient and stream competence during the later stages of valley and shelf evolution. The youngest valleys show a situation of differential evolution along the valley length due to varying rates of sea level rise in the Holocene. Initial rapid sea level rise caused drowning and overstepping of the outer segment of the incised valley, whereas slower rates of sea level rise in the late Holocene caused shoreface ravinement of the inner-mid segments of the valley. This differential exposure to accommodation has resulted in a sedimentological partitioning between tide-dominated facies in the outer valley segment and river-dominated facies in the inner segment (cf. Cooper, 2001).