The response of coastal systems to allogenic forcing factors is of interest to diverse research communities, including those interested in global change, sequence stratigraphy and modelling. Quaternary systems are of particular interest because they provide analogues for ancient rock records. To understand the processes responsible for the sedimentary evolution of estuarine systems, it is necessary to study as many fluvial systems as possible. The objective of this review of the sedimentary evolution of a coastal marsh is to describe the influence of glacial paleotopography on the record of climatic and sea-level changes. The Marais Vernier, located at the interface between the marine and fluvial parts of the estuary, is a part of the Lower Seine Valley wetland network, which formed after the Last Glacial Maximum. Previous studies have described the Holocene filling, which is composed of peat and detrital material deposited following climatic and sea-level changes. To understand the sedimentary evolution, a paleotopographical (based on drillings and electromagnetic surveys) and a chronological framework (based on radiocarbon dates) for the southern peat marsh were defined. The peat marsh paleotopography has three erosional surfaces. The S1 surface is the oldest and also the highest, topographically; the S2 surface is younger, wider, and incised below the S1 surface; the S3 surface, the youngest of the three, is narrow and deeply incised. Radiometric ages were considered on the basis of their geographical position in relation to the S3 surface. Prior to 7.5 ka cal BP, sediments accumulated only above the narrow area described by the S3 surface, at a rate of 5.5 mm yr− 1. After 7.5 ka cal BP, shortly after the flooding of the Seine estuary, sediments accumulated as peat deposits over the entire peat marsh at a rate of 3 mm yr− 1 in response to the sea-level rise. The paleotopography delimits the area of deposition during the Holocene, and thus plays a critical role in determining the vertical accretion rate expressed as a thickness: prior to 7.5 ka cal BP, the vertical accretion rate (5.5 mm yr− 1) was less than that observed for the Seine estuary (6.8 mm yr− 1). However, rate of sea-level rise and sediment supply, which also affects sediment accumulation rates, vary in northwestern Europe during the Holocene. Therefore, although the Marais Vernier is a good illustration of paleotopographic influence, the effects of autocompaction, sea level and sediment supply complicate efforts to quantify the degree to which it controls sediment accumulation.