Post-glacial sea-level rise from a coral record at Huon Peninsula, Papua New Guinea

Nature ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 349 (6305) ◽  
pp. 147-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Chappell ◽  
Henry Polach
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
New Guinea

Ecological incumbency impedes stochastic community assembly in Holocene foraminifera from the Huon Peninsula, Papua New Guinea

Paleobiology ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 670-685 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire E. Reymond ◽  
Michael Bode ◽  
Willem Renema ◽  
John M. Pandolfi
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Neutral Theory ◽  
Stochastic Theory ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
Species Assemblages ◽  
Ecological Communities ◽  
Community Size

Persistence in the structure of ecological communities can be predicted both by deterministic and by stochastic theory. Evaluating ecological patterns against the neutral theory of biodiversity provides an appropriate methodology for differentiating between these alternatives. We traced the history of benthic foraminiferal communities from the Huon Peninsula, Papua New Guinea. From the well-preserved uplifted reef terrace at Bonah River we reconstructed the benthic foraminiferal communities during a 2200-year period (9000–6800 yr B.P.) of reef building during the Holocene transgressive sea-level rise. We found that the similarity of foraminiferal communities was consistently above 60%, even when comparing communities on either side of a massive volcanic eruption that smothered the existing reef system with ash. Similarly, species diversity and rank dominance were unchanged through time. However, similarity dropped dramatically in the final stages of reef growth, when accommodation space was reduced as sea-level rise slowed. We compared the community inertia index (CII) computed from the observed species abundances with that predicted from neutral theory. Despite the differences in foraminiferal community composition in the younger part of the reef sequence, we found an overall greater degree of community inertia with less variance in observed communities than was predicted from neutral theory, regardless of foraminiferal community size or species migration rate. Thus, persistent species assemblages could not be ascribed to neutral predictions. Ecological incumbency of established foraminiferal species likely prevented stochastic increases in both migrant and rare taxa at the Bonah River site. Regardless of the structuring mechanisms, our reconstruction of Holocene foraminiferal assemblages provides historical context for the management and potential restoration of degraded species assemblages.

Unravelling the conundrum of river response to rising sea-level from laboratory to field. Part II. The Fly-Strickland River system, Papua New Guinea

Sedimentology ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 55 (6) ◽  
pp. 1657-1686 ◽  
Author(s):  
GARY PARKER ◽  
TETSUJI MUTO ◽  
YOSHIHISA AKAMATSU ◽  
WILLIAM E. DIETRICH ◽  
J. WESLEY LAUER
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
River System ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
Rising Sea Level

scholarly journals High interstadial sea levels over the past 420ka from Huon terraces (Papua New Guinea)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gino de Gelder ◽  
Laurent Husson ◽  
Anne-Morwenn Pastier ◽  
David Fernández-Blanco ◽  
Tamara Pico ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oxygen Isotope ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
Deformation Pattern ◽  
Glacial Cycle ◽  
Sea Levels ◽  
Global Mean Sea Level ◽  
Global Sea Level ◽  
Geological Constraints

The history of sea level across the Quaternary is essential for assessing past and future climate and geodynamics. Global sea-level reconstructions are typically derived from oxygen isotope curves, but require calibration with geological constraints that are particularly scarce prior to the last glacial cycle (>130 ka). The exceptionally well-preserved coral reef terrace sequence in the Huon Peninsula (Papua New Guinea) may provide such constraints up to ~420 ka, but has never been analysed in its full extent, or with high-resolution topographic data. Here we apply novel geometric approaches to show that the terrace sequence deformation pattern can be approximated by a northward tectonic tilt, and estimate relative sea-level (RSL) for 31 Late Pleistocene periods, including several periods for which no other RSL data exists elsewhere. Supported by reef modelling, these estimates suggest that global mean sea-level curves derived from oxygen isotopes systematically underestimate interstadial sea-level elevations, by up to ~20m. We propose that this discrepancy is either an effect of incorrect oxygen isotope curve calibrations, or that some short-lived sea-level variations are simply not recorded in oxygen isotope ratios.

Climate, sea level and tectonic controls on sediment discharge from the Sepik River, Papua New Guinea during the Mid- to Late Pleistocene

2019 ◽  
Vol 415 ◽  
pp. 105954 ◽  
Author(s):  
I.W. Aiello ◽  
S.C. Bova ◽  
A.E. Holbourn ◽  
D.K. Kulhanek ◽  
A.C. Ravelo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
Sediment Discharge ◽  
Sepik River

No snow in the mountains: Early Eocene plant fossils from Hotham Heights, Victoria, Australia

2004 ◽  
Vol 52 (6) ◽  
pp. 685 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond J. Carpenter ◽  
Robert S. Hill ◽  
David R. Greenwood ◽  
Alan D. Partridge ◽  
Meredith A. Banks
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Early Eocene ◽  
Geological Evidence ◽  
Plant Fossils ◽  
Plant Assemblage ◽  
Tree Ferns

An Early Eocene plant assemblage from near the summit of Mt Hotham, Victoria, is described, using a combination of macro- and microfossils, especially cuticles. This is important since no other Australian macrofossil sites from this time, when environmental conditions are believed to have been the warmest of the Cenozoic, have been described in detail. The nature of the flora and vegetation supports geological evidence that the site was upland (approximately 800 m above sea level) at this time, with climatic conditions similar to those now experienced in regions such as the Atherton Tablelands in Queensland and mid-montane Papua New Guinea. The vegetation was probably a form of rainforest dominated by mesotherm elements, with abundant ferns including Gleicheniaceae and the tree ferns Cnemidaria, Cyathea and Dicksonia. Gymnosperms included Araucariaceae (Agathis) and Podocarpaceae (at least Acmopyle and Dacrydium). Angiosperms were diverse in Lauraceae (at least nine species including probably Cryptocarya, Endiandra and Litsea) and Proteaceae (at least nine species including probably Musgravea and Darlingia). Other angiosperms included Cunoniaceae, Gymnostoma (Casuarinaceae), Diospyros-like Ebenaceae, and the vine Cissocarpus (Vitaceae). Nothofagus was rare or absent from the Mt Hotham region at this time, as no macrofossil evidence was found, and pollen percentages were very low.

Late Quaternary vegetational history of the Enga province of Upland Papua New Guinea

1979 ◽  
Vol 286 (1012) ◽  
pp. 265-344 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
Forest Canopy ◽  
Analytical Data ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
Mountain Forest ◽  
Mean Annual Temperature ◽  
Present Level ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Forest Limit

Stratigraphies and pollen analyses are reported from three sites within 25 km east and west from Wabag in the highlands of Papua New Guinea, namely: Sirunki, 2500 m above sea level, 32000 to 1500 yr Inferred Ages; Inim, 2500 m above sea level, 10000 to 0 yr Inferred Ages; Birip, 1900 m above sea level, 2300 to 0 yr Inferred Ages. Events evidenced by these data are described against a time scale of Inferred Ages (I.A.) based on radiocarbon dates and stratigraphic considerations. The pollen analytical data from Sirunki are presented in terms of pollen recovery (deposition) rates as grains per square centimetre per year (grains cm -2 a -1 ) and their interpretation controlled by information about total pollen deposition rates and differential pollen production and transport at the present day. Around Sirunki, the composition of the vegetation before 27500 I.A. is enigmatic, although almost certainly it was treeless. From then until 9000 I.A. subalpine and alpine conditions dominated except during two short periods when forest taxa grew in the catchment. Final afforestation began about 9000 I.A. but the composition of the forest did not stabilize until about 3000 years later. This relative stability was shortlived; soon after 5000 I.A. fluctuations in forest composition began. These fluctuations were associated with periodic changes in the proportion of forested to unforested land. The Inim data lead to conclusions generally compatible with those drawn from Sirunki. However, data from the two areas differ in detail, particularly in the later onset of change in the local forests about 2000 I.A. and its intensification, coeval with a diminution in forest area, after 500 I.A. The short record from Birip is dominated by serai changes on the crater wall itself but the main indicators of forest disturbance and unforested areas were already there at its beginning (2300 I.A.). It seems likely that general forest destruction began, or gained greater impetus, around Birip about 450 I.A. In the most general terms, the forest taxa, recorded by pollen analysis, have behaved consistently with their present distributions and ecological relationships throughout the last 30000 years. More detailed resolution, however, exposes many deviations from this generalization. The majority of taxa are usually associated in groups which vary in their composition repeatedly during a few thousand years, yet some of the taxa occasionally behave entirely individualistically. The establishment of forest broadly comparable with that growing around Sirunki today began about 9000 I.A., when the main components entered the catchment, but took about 2500 years to achieve balance and a repeated regeneration process. About 4500 I.A., the relationship between forest canopy trees and forest ephemerals changed from one explicable in terms of the latter’s role in natural forest regeneration to one suggestive of the ephemerals’ wide spread through the forest which could only have been achieved by degradation of the canopy. It is suggested that a rise in the Sirunki basin’s water level and the destruction of the surrounding forest about 13500 I.A. may have been due to seismic activity. The failure of the forest to re-establish there until 9000 i.a. was perhaps due to continued earth movement and partially to climatic conditions. The vegetation record from Sirunki suggests that the mean annual temperature there was similar to that of today between 27000 I.A. and 25500 I.A. but fell irregularly thereafter until between 18500 I.A. and 16000 I.A. it was probably about 10 °C below present. The mean annual temperature rose rapidly after 16000 i.a. and was within 1 °C of its present level by 13500 I.A. The cold episode between 18 500 I.A. and 16000 i.a. corresponds with the last glacial maximum at higher altitudes in New Guinea. Pollen analytical evidence of the altitude of the forest limit and Climap Project Members (1976) estimates of sea surface temperature at that time suggest a temperature lapse rate of about 8.5 °C per 1000 m altitude (compared with 5.8 °C at present), with a firn line kept high, as the geomorphological evidence demands, by low precipitation at high altitudes. In this coldest period the altitudinal forest limit was about 1500 m below its present level of 3800 m. There is some evidence to suggest that the highest altitude forests of that time may have been quite different from those of today, perhaps containing components of the lower mountain forest canopy as well as the plants of the present upper mountain forest. This implies that the upper mountain forest becomes a separate entity only during comparatively short excursions up the mountains during periods of relatively warm climate. The low altitude of the forest limit during the last major cold period and its subsequent rise through 1500 m must have had substantial repercussions on the composition of the forests at lower altitudes. Although there is no archaeological evidence, the pollen analytical data suggest human interference with the forests around Sirunki from about 4300 I.A., which for 1300 years involved clearing of the forest and the enhanced growth of ephemerals of forest and open-land. Subsequently, the forest remained generally degenerate and a new wave of clearing began about 2000 I.A. near both Sirunki and Inim which continued and intensified about 500 I.A. At the lower altitude of Birip, forests were already disturbed by the beginning of the pollen analytical record at about 2300 I.A.

High-resolution topography of the uplifting Huon Peninsula (Papua New Guinea) reveals high interstadial sea-levels over the past ~400 ka

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gino de Gelder ◽  
Laurent Husson ◽  
Anne-Morwenn Pastier ◽  
Denovan Chauveau ◽  
David Fernández-Blanco ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Coral Reef ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
Sea Levels ◽  
Level Curves ◽  
The Past ◽  
Reef Models ◽  
Global Mean Sea Level

<p>Quaternary sea-level curves provide crucial insights to constrain tectonic and climatic processes, but require calibration with geological constraints that are particularly scarce for cold periods prior to the last glacial-interglacial cycle. To derive such constraints, we re-visit the Huon Peninsula in Papua New Guinea, which is a classic coral reef terrace (CRT) site that was used for the earliest relative sea-level (RSL) curves. We use digital surface models calculated from 0.5m Pleiades satellite imagery to improve RSL constraints, and unlike previous studies, we find that large-scale tilting of the terrace sequence is generally N-directed. This implies that RSL estimates are several meters higher than previously thought for most highstands over the past ~125 ka. We use the large-scale geometry of the terrace sequence to estimate sea-level highstands up to ~400 ka, and our results suggest that global mean sea-level curves derived from oxygen isotopes consistently underestimate sea-level during the relatively cold Marine Isotope Stages 3, 5a, 5c, 6, 9a and 11a, up to ~10-20 m. We use coral reef models to show that our age interpretation is consistent with the overall terrace sequence morphology, and fits between models and topography improve when adjusting sea-level highstands according to our findings.</p>

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