Authors: YanTao Yao WenHuan Zhan JinLong Sun Jie Sun
Publish Date: 2013/03/04
Volume: 58, Issue: 23, Pages: 2869-2876
Abstract
Fossil corals are widespread on the coast of northwestern Hainan Island China Most of these corals are exposed during low tide levels indicating that a higher sea level may have existed during their life time The radiocarbon data introduced by this paper in combination with those from other sources show that the corals were alive mainly during the mid to lateHolocene MidHolocene sea levels 1–3 m higher than the present level were confirmed for adjacent coasts however the emerged corals on the investigated coast are not necessarily indicators of a higher eustatic sea level They do predict relative sea levels of 15–34 m when using 1 m below the tidal datum as the upper limit of coral growth However using the Mean Lower Low Water as the coral’s upper growth limit the relative sea level on the nonvolcanic coast was almost as high as the present level whereas that on the volcanic coast was 04–20 m higher than present Therefore the exposure of these dead coral heads and their discrepancy in elevation may be the result of tectonic uplift caused by volcanic activities From these results the highest sea level of upward coral growth must be defined first when using fossil corals to reconstruct past sea levels Meanwhile vertical tectonics have to be taken into account as a significant factor when conducting highresolution sea level reconstruction although the South China coast is located in a “tectonically stable” regionThis article is published under an open access license Please check the Copyright Information section for details of this license and what reuse is permitted If your intended use exceeds what is permitted by the license or if you are unable to locate the licence and reuse information please contact the Rights and Permissions team
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