Critical depth for the survival of coral islands: effects on the hawaiian archipelago

Coral islands drown when sea level rise exceeds the maximum potential of coral reefs to grow upward (about 10 millimeters per year). During the Holocene transgression (18,000 years ago to present) sea levels rose at rates of up to 10 to 20 millimeters per year, and most coral island reefs situated deeper than a critical depth of30 to 40 meters below present day sea level drowned. Coral islands that did not drown during the Holocene transgression apparently all developed on antecedent foundations shallower than critical depth. During low stands in sea level during the Pleistocene, these islands were elevated and subject to subaerial erosion. Today, in the Hawaiian Archipelago, the depth of drowned banks is inversely related to summit area; smaller banks are progressively deeper, evidently because of erosional truncation during low sea level stands. Bank summit area may therefore be an important factor determining the failure or success of coral islands.     

Holocene mean uplift rates across an active plate-collision boundary in taiwan

Samples of Holocene fossil coral from uplifted reefs of three tectonically distinct, yet geographically proximal regions of Taiwan have been dated by uranium-series and (14)C isotopes. Applying corrections for altitude change caused by sea level fluctuations enables evaluation of long-term average Holocene uplift rates for three areas across an active convergent margin: (i) the Hengchun Peninsula of the Eurasian tectonic plate; (ii) the Eastern Coastal Range of Taiwan, a plate boundary; and (iii) two offshore islands, Lanyu and Lutao, both situated on the leading edge of the adjoining Philippine Plate. The data indicate that while all three areas have experienced uplift through the Holocene, plate collision has caused significantly higher uplift rates in the region directly along the plate boundary.     

Deposit from a giant wave on the island of lanai, hawaii

Limestone-bearing gravel, the newly named Hulopoe Gravel, blankets the coastal slopes on Lanai. The deposit, which reaches a maximum altitude of 326 meters, formerly was believed to have been deposited along several different ancient marine strandlines, but dated submerged coral reefs and tide-gauge measurements indicate that the southeastern Hawaiian Islands sink so fast that former worldwide high stands of the sea now lie beneath local sea level. Evidence indicates that the Hulopoe Gravel and similar deposits on nearby islands were deposited during the Pleistocene by a giant wave generated by a submarine landslide on a sea scarp south of Lanai.     

Geophysical investigations of the tectonic boundary between East and west antarctica

The Transantarctic Mountains (TAM), which separate the West Antarctic rift system from the stable shield of East Antarctica, are the largest mountains developed adjacent to a rift. The cause of uplift of mountains bordering rifts is poorly understood. One notion based on observations of troughs next to many uplifted blocks is that isostatic rebound produces a coeval uplift and subsidence. The results of an over-snow seismic experiment in Antarctica do not show evidence for a trough next to the TAM but indicate the extension of rifted mantle lithosphere under the TAM. Furthermore, stretching preceded the initiation of uplift, which suggests thermal buoyancy as the cause for uplift.     

长江口牡蛎礁恢复及碳汇潜力评估

牡蛎礁是温带河口和滨海区一种特殊的海洋生境,它具有生物生产、净化水体、提供鱼类生境、维持生物多样性和防止海岸侵蚀等重要功能,根据对长江口牡蛎礁恢复工程的跟踪监测结果,分析和评估该人工牡蛎礁恢复及碳汇潜力。研究结果表明,在2004—2010年期间,该人工牡蛎礁牡蛎种群的增长迅速,2005年牡蛎平均密度和生物量达到最高,以后各年牡蛎生长过程中存在自疏现象和死亡,总密度下降,但个体增长。牡蛎礁上大型底栖动物物种数、总密度和总生物量呈快速的增长趋势,2004年至2010年共出现大型底栖动物47种,至2010年8月其密度和生物量分别达到941ind·m-2和44.51g·m-2。该人工牡蛎礁具有强大的固碳能力,通过牡蛎的钙化过程,单位面积年固碳量为2.70kg·m-2,年平均固定碳量达3.33×104t,直接产生的年平均固碳效益达837万元,相当于营造1110hm2热带森林。     

Pleistocene sea levels from raised coral reefs of haiti

The elevations and ages of a sequence of three uplifted Pleistocene coral reefs on the Northwest Peninsula of Haiti have been determined. With the assignment of a sea level of +6 meters (relative to the present day) at 130,000 years before present and constant uplift of the reefs, the data indicate that sea level stood -10 and -13 meters at 108,000 and 81,000 years before present, respectively. These results are in substantial agreement with those reported for Barbados and New Guinea and support the hypothesis of constant uplift for each area. Sea level data from raised reefs indicate that the interglacial marine oxygen isotope oscillations during oxygen isotope stage 5 are a result of 30 percent ice volume effects and 70 percent temperature effects.     

Quaternary climates and sea levels of the u.s. Atlantic coastal plain

Uranium-series dating of corals from marine deposits of the U.S. Atlantic Coastal Plain coupled with paleoclimatic reconstructions based on ostracode (marine) and pollen (continent) data document at least five relatively warm intervals during the last 500,000 years. On the basis of multiple paleoenvironmental criteria, we determined relative sea level positions during the warm intervals, relative to present mean sea level, were 7 +/- 5 meters at 188,000 years ago, 7.5 +/- 1.5 meters at 120,000 years ago, 6.5 +/- 3.5 meters at 94,000 years ago, and 7 +/- 3 meters at 72,000 years ago. The composite sea level chronology for the Atlantic Coastal Plain is inconsistent with independent estimates of eustatic sea level positions during interglacial intervals of the last 200,000 years. Hydroisostatic adjustment from glacial-interglacial sea level fluctuations, lithospheric flexure, and isostatic uplift from sediment unloading due to erosion provide possible mechanisms to account for the discrepancies. Alternatively, current eustatic sea level estimates for the middle and late Quaternary may require revision.     

Detection of large prehistoric earthquakes in the pacific northwest by microfossil analysis

Geologic and palynological evidence for rapid sea level change approximately 3400 and approximately 2000 carbon-14 years ago (3600 and 1900 calendar years ago) has been found at sites up to 110 kilometers apart in southwestern British Columbia. Submergence on southern Vancouver Island and slight emergence on the mainland during the older event are consistent with a great (magnitude M >/= 8) earthquake on the Cascadia subduction zone. The younger event is characterized by submergence throughout the region and may also record a plate-boundary earthquake or a very large crustal or intraplate earthquake. Microfossil analysis can detect small amounts of coseismic uplift and subsidence that leave little or no lithostratigraphic signature.     

Late holocene tectonics and paleoseismicity, southern cascadia subduction zone

Holocene deformation indicative of large subduction-zone earthquakes has occurred on two large thrust fault systems in the Humboldt Bay region of northern California. Displaced stratigraphic markers record three offsets of 5 to 7 meters each on the Little Salmon fault during the past 1700 years. Smaller and less frequent Holocene displacements have occurred in the Mad River fault zone. Elsewhere, as many as five episodes of sudden subsidence of marsh peats and fossil forests and uplift of marine terraces are recorded. Carbon-14 dates suggest that the faulting, subsidence, and uplift events were synchronous. Relations between magnitude and various fault-offset parameters indicate that earthquakes accompanying displacements on the Little Salmon fault had magnitudes of at least 7.6 to 7.8. More likely this faulting accompanied rupture of the boundary between the Gorda and North American plates, and magnitudes were about 8.4 or greater.     

Topographically controlled fronts in the ocean and their biological influence

Headlands, islands, and reefs generate complex three-dimensional secondary flows that result in physical and biological fronts. Mixing and diffusion processes near these reefs and headlands are quite different from these processes in the open sea, and classical advection-diffusion models that were developed for the open sea are not valid near shore. Topographically generated fronts affect the distribution of sediments, and they aggregate waterborne eggs, larvae, and plankton. This aggregation influences the distribution and density of benthic assemblages and of pelagic secondary and tertiary predators.     

Quaternary raised coral-reef terraces on sumba island, indonesia

A spectacular sequence of coral-reef terraces (six steps broader than 500 meters and many minor substeps) is developed near Cape Laundi, Sumba Island, between an ancient patch reef 475 meters high and sea level. Several raised reefs have been dated with the electron spin resonance and the uranium-series dating methods. The uplift trend deduced from these reefs is 0.5 millimeter per year; most terraces, although polycyclic in origin, appear to correspond to specific interglacial stages, with the oldest terrace formed 1 million years ago. This puts them among the longest and most complete mid-Quaternary terrace sequences.     

Coral reef morphogenesis: a multidimensional model

Windward reef morphogenesis is a dynamic process directly controlled by the growth potential of dominant corals and coralline algae relative to wave energy and sea level rise. Moderate wave energy favors vertically rapid growth that is porous and uncemented; high wave energy favors slow but compact growth. Growth potentials of Caribbean and Indo-Pacific reefs are probably equivalent. Major differences are probably not due to biological or direct climatic factors but are in part related to differing patterns of sea level rise resulting from Holocene crustal adjustment. The nature and position of antecedent foundations developed by high interglacial and interstadial sea levels is especially critical and is largely controlled by regional tectonic factors, especially long-term subsidence.     

A mantle plume initiation model for the wrangellia flood basalt and other oceanic plateaus

The vast Wrangellia terrane of Alaska and British Columbia is an accreted oceanic plateau with Triassic strata that contain a 3- to 6-kilometers thick flood basalt, bounded above and below by marine sedimentary rocks. This enormous outpouring of basalt was preceded by rapid uplift and was followed by gradual subsidence of the plateau. The uplift and basalt eruptions occurred in less than approximately 5 million years, and were not accompanied by significant extension or rifting of the lithosphere. This sequence of events is predicted by a mantle plume initiation, or plume head, model that has recently been developed to explain continental flood volcanism. Evidence suggests that other large oceanic basalt plateaus, such as the Ontong-Java, Kerguelen, and Caribbean, were formed as the initial outbursts of the Louisville Ridge, Kerguelen, and Galapagos hot spots, respectively. Such events may play an important role in the creation and development of both oceanic and continental crust.     

Marine Planation of Tropical Limestone Islands

Geological studies in the western Atlantic indicate that sea level is now near its highest position since the Pleistocene, and that intertidal erosion at this level has been negligible. The evidence conflicts with the idea that many coral reefs were recently planed down from a higher stand of the sea.     

Holocene changes in sea level: evidence in micronesia

Investigation of 33 islands, scattered widely across the Caroline and Marshall Island groups in the Central Pacific revealed no emerged reefs in which corals had unquestionably formed in situ, or other direct evidence of postglacial high stands of sea level. Low unconsolidated rock terraces and ridges of reefflat islands, mostly lying between tide levels, were composed of rubble conglomerates; carbon-14 dating of 11 samples from the conglomerates so far may suggest a former slightly higher sea level (nine samples range between 1890 and 3450 and one approaches 4500 years ago). However, recent hurricanes have produced ridges of comparable height and material, and in the same areas relics from World War II have been found cemented in place. Thus these datings do not in themselves necessarily indicate formerly higher sea levels. Rubble tracts are produced by storms under present conditions without any change in datum, and there seems to be no compelling evidence that they were not so developed during various periods in the past.     

Abrupt uplift within the past 1700 years at southern puget sound, washington

Shorelines rose as much as 7 meters along southern Puget Sound and Hood Canal between 500 and 1700 years ago. Evidence for this uplift consists of elevated wave-cut shore platforms near Seattle and emerged, peat-covered tidal flats as much as 60 kilometers to the southwest. The uplift was too rapid for waves to leave intermediate shorelines on even the best preserved platform. The tidal flats also emerged abruptly; they changed into freshwater swamps and meadows without first becoming tidal marshes. Where uplift was greatest, it adjoined an inferred fault that crosses Puget Sound at Seattle and it probably accompanied reverse slip on that fault 1000 to 1100 years ago. The uplift and probable fault slip show that the crust of the North America plate contains potential sources of damaging earthquakes in the Puget Sound region.     

Deformation and slip along the Sunda megathrust in the great 2005 Nias-Simeulue earthquake

Seismic rupture produced spectacular tectonic deformation above a 400-kilometer strip of the Sunda megathrust, offshore northern Sumatra, in March 2005. Measurements from coral microatolls and Global Positioning System stations reveal trench-parallel belts of uplift up to 3 meters high on the outer-arc islands above the rupture and a 1-meter-deep subsidence trough farther from the trench. Surface deformation reflects more than 11 meters of fault slip under the islands and a pronounced lessening of slip trenchward. A saddle in megathrust slip separates the northwestern edge of the 2005 rupture from the great 2004 Sumatra-Andaman rupture. The southeastern edge abuts a predominantly aseismic section of the megathrust near the equator.     

Subsidence in the northeastern nile delta: rapid rates, possible causes, and consequences

Holocene fluvial and marine deposits have accumulated in a graben-like structure on the northeastern margin of the Nile delta. This part of the delta, which includes Lake Manzala, Port Said, and the northern Suez Canal, has subsided rapidly at rates of up to 0.5 centimeter per year since about 7500 years ago. This subsidence has diverted at last four major distributaries of the Nile River into this region. The combined effects of continued subsidence and sea level rise may flood a large part of the northern delta plain by as much as 1 meter by the year 2100. The impact of continued subsidence, now occurring when sediment input along the coast has been sharply reduced because of the Aswan High Dam, is likely to be substantial, particularly in the Port Said area and as far inland as south of Lake Manzala.     

Rapid flooding of the sunda shelf: A late-glacial sea-level record

The increase in sea level from the last glacial maximum has been derived from a siliciclastic system on the tectonically stable Sunda Shelf in Southeast Asia. The time from 21 to 14 thousand calendar years before the present has been poorly covered in other records. The record generally confirms sea-level reconstructions from coral reefs. The rise of sea level during meltwater pulse 1A was as much as 16 meters within 300 years (14.6 to 14.3 thousand years ago).     

Growth of Western Australian corals in the anthropocene

Anthropogenic increases of atmospheric carbon dioxide lead to warmer sea surface temperatures and altered ocean chemistry. Experimental evidence suggests that coral calcification decreases as aragonite saturation drops but increases as temperatures rise toward thresholds optimal for coral growth. In situ studies have documented alarming recent declines in calcification rates on several tropical coral reef ecosystems. We show there is no widespread pattern of consistent decline in calcification rates of massive Porites during the 20th century on reefs spanning an 11° latitudinal range in the southeast Indian Ocean off Western Australia. Increasing calcification rates on the high-latitude reefs contrast with the downward trajectory reported for corals on Australia's Great Barrier Reef and provide additional evidence that recent changes in coral calcification are responses to temperature rather than ocean acidification.