Reconstruction of paleocoastlines for the northwestern South China Sea since the Last Glacial Maximum |
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| Authors: | YanTao Yao Jan Harff Michael Meyer WenHuan Zhan |
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| Institution: | (1) CAS Key Laboratory of Marginal Sea Geology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510301, China;(2) Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China;(3) Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde, Rostock, D-18119, Germany |
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| Abstract: | The range of relative sea level rise in the northwestern South China Sea since the Last Glacial Maximum was over 100 m. As
a result, lowland regions including the Northeast Vietnam coast, Beibu Gulf, and South China coast experienced an evolution
from land to sea. Based on the principle of reconstructing paleogeography and using recent digital elevation model, relative
sea level curves, and sediment accumulation data, this paper presents a series of paleogeographic scenarios back to 20 cal.
ka BP for the northwestern South China Sea. The scenarios demonstrate the entire process of coastline changes for the area
of interest. During the late glacial period from 20 to 15 cal. ka BP, coastline slowly retreated, causing a land loss of only
1×104 km2, and thus the land-sea distribution remained nearly unchanged. Later in 15–10 cal. ka BP coastline rapidly retreated and
area of land loss was up to 24×104km2, causing lowlands around Northeast Vietnam and South China soon to be underwater. Coastline retreat continued quite rapidly
during the early Holocene. From 10 to 6 cal. ka BP land area had decreased by 9×104km2, and during that process the Qiongzhou Strait completely opened up. Since the mid Holocene, main controls on coastline change
are from vertical crustal movements and sedimentation. Transgression was surpassed by regression, resulting in a land accretion
of about 10×104km2.
Supported by Key Laboratory of Marginal Sea Geology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. MSGL0711), the Guangdong Natural
Science Foundation (Grant No. 04001309) and Open Fund of the Key Laboratory of Marine Geology and Environment, Chinese Academy
of Sciences (Grant No. MGE2007KG04) |
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| Keywords: | relative sea level change paleocoastline reconstruction Last Glacial Maximum northwestern South China Sea |
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