LAUSR

This paper details a high-resolution record of French Atlantic coast extreme wave events using a multi-proxy analysis of dated sedimentary deposits. Two lagoons 1) the Petite Mer de Gâvres and 2) the Traicts du Croisic were chosen to identify damaging storm events from the last 300 years with Beeker sampling, 210Pb and 137Cs dating and sedimentary analysis. Using two new geochemical proxies in the French Atlantic coast, Sr/Fe and Ca/Ti, shows that several storminess events are reported in the nine cores drilled. By correlation with historical archives, seven major storms are confirmed: 1924 CE, 1940 CE, 1972 CE, 1977 CE, 1990 CE, 1999 CE, and an 1896 CE highly damaging event. Four other XIXth and XVIIIth century extreme wave event correlations are also proposed from this multi-proxy analysis: 1775 CE, 1811 CE, 1838 CE and 1876 CE. Societal and natural impacts caused by these coastal floods are revealed using our dense and varied historical archives.