LAUSR

Abstract A multiproxy approach based on benthic foraminifera, sediment grain-size, total organic carbon content, major and trace element concentrations, and radionuclide activities was used to investigate the recent landscape evolution of the Canche Estuary (eastern English Channel, France). In the present study the radiometric dating based on 210Pb and 137Cs activities could only establish that the sediments were deposited recently. As an alternative method, aerial historical pictures were used for the first time to date core sediments as well as to enhance the palaeoenvironmental interpretations. In approximately one hundred years, an initial naked tidal flat has been gradually replaced by a vegetated salt marsh. In the bottom part of the core, foraminiferal assemblages are dominated by Cribroelphium excavatum and Elphidium margaritaceum. Haynesina germanica is the most abundant taxon in the middle part of the core while Entzia macrescens is dominant in the upper part. The sediment core represents a typical fining-upward succession in a low-impacted tide-dominated estuary filled by progradation. Our outcomes highlight how a multidisciplinary approach based on abiotic and biotic parameters is essential for understanding complex transitional areas like estuaries. When dating is not provided by classic radiometric methods, historical pictures (