Synthetic coral-reef terraces and variations of Quaternary sea level |
| |
| Authors: | DL Turcotte MJ Bernthal |
| |
| Institution: | Department of Geological Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 U.S.A. |
| |
| Abstract: | Coral-reef terraces on tectonically elevated coasts provide important data on variations of sea level. In this paper a systematic approach is presented for the construction of synthetic reef terraces. Idealized reef terraces are generated assuming a constant rate of tectonic uplift ν and a harmonic variation of sea level with amplitudehwo and period τ. It is further assumed that coral terraces grow only during periods of relative sea-level rise. The behavior is governed by the parameter u = τυ/2π hwo. If u > 1 no reef terraces form. If 0.217 < u < 1 a discontinuous series of terraces form on the uplifting basement. If 0 < u < 0.217 the basement is covered with coral and a series of coral terraces forms on this coral. Uplifted coral-reef terraces on the Huon Peninsula, Papua New Guinea, compare reasonably well with terraces generated by our model with τ = 20,000 years andhwo = 21.4 m. We also compare the observed terraces with model terraces using the paleo sea level inferred from18O/16O data. The observed terraces are qualitatively similar to those predicted using the oxygen isotope data, however, the model terraces require larger relative sea-level variations with a near 20,000 year period than those inferred directly from the18O/16O data. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
| 本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录！ |
|
