RECONSTRUCTING HOLOCENE SEA-LEVEL CHANGE FOR THE CENTRAL GREAT BARRIER REEF (AUSTRALIA) USING SUBTIDAL FORAMINIFERA

2007 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 327-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. P. Horton ◽  
S. J. Culver ◽  
M. I. J. Hardbattle ◽  
P. Larcombe ◽  
G. A. Milne ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Great Barrier Reef ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Sea Level Change ◽  
Barrier Reef ◽  
Level Change ◽  
Holocene Sea Level

Sea level change on the Great Barrier Reef: an introduction

1978 ◽  
Vol 291 (1378) ◽  
pp. 159-166 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Great Barrier Reef ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Sea Level Change ◽  
North Coast ◽  
Barrier Reef ◽  
Isotopic Dating ◽  
Sea Levels ◽  
Level Change ◽  
Show Evidence ◽  
Eustatic Fluctuations

Evidence for Holocene shorelines from the Queensland coast, off which the Great Barrier Reef lies, has epitomized the problems of eustatic fluctuations over the last 6000 years. While some areas of southern and central Queensland show evidence of no sea level higher than the present over this period, other areas, particularly within 150 km of Townsville on the mid-North coast, have provided radiometrically dated evidence for an emergence of up to 4.9 m. The area in which the 1973 Expedition worked has been described previously by several authors, and evidence for higher shorelines in the form of cemented platforms, raised reefs and related features suggesting higher sea levels, though without isotopic dating, has been noted. Research was aimed at confirming and accurately measuring and dating such evidence and relating it to the pattern described elsewhere. Any divergences must then be explained in terms of spatially and temporally varying oceanographic or geomorphic conditions and Earth movements of tectonic and/or isostatic origin.

Holocene sea level change: an interpretation

1978 ◽  
Vol 291 (1378) ◽  
pp. 187-194 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Great Barrier Reef ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Sea Level Change ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Barrier Reef ◽  
Last Deglaciation ◽  
Level Change ◽  
Field Evidence ◽  
Number Of Factors ◽  
Hinge Zone

Interpretation of factors responsible for land-sea level change in areas such as the Great Barrier Reef involve an appreciation of not only the field evidence purporting to show change, but also the theoretical models which attempt to explain depth variations in shorelines of a given age. Relative movements in sea level in Holocene time may result from a number of factors operating either external to the study area (e.g. glacio-eustatic, and broad-scale hydro-isostatic deformation of the globe resulting from the last deglaciation and sea level rise), or those whose effects are essentially local (e.g. changes in circulation and tidal levels within partially enclosed water bodies induced by sedimentation or biogenic reef growth, meteorological changes affecting the magnitude and frequency of storminess, regional flexures and/or faulting, and hydro-isostatic deformation of shelves and adjacent coasts accompanying the Postglacial Transgression). In this paper, data from the northern Great Barrier Reef Province are evaluated in relation to various causes of sea level change. Emphasis is placed on explaining variations in relative sea level position by hydroisostatic theory. Deflexion in the ocean margin ‘hinge zone’ varies with continental shelf geometry and rigidity of the underlying lithosphere. The fact that the oceanic crust meets the continental crust quite abruptly east of the study areas, dictates that moderately strong flexures occur, and that variations in Holocene hydro-isostatic flexure in the Great Barrier Reef Province are partly explainable in these terms.

scholarly journals The Variable Influences of Sea Level, Sedimentation and Exposure on Holocene Reef Development over a Cross-Shelf Transect, Central Great Barrier Reef

Diversity ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma Ryan ◽  
Scott Smithers ◽  
Stephen Lewis ◽  
Tara Clark ◽  
Jian-xin Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Great Barrier Reef ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Sea Level Change ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Barrier Reef ◽  
Reef Development ◽  
Level Change ◽  
Terrigenous Sedimentation ◽  
Holocene Reef

Coral reefs globally are impacted by natural and anthropogenic stressors that are compounded by climate change. Understanding past reef responses to natural stressors (cyclones, sea-level change, freshwater inputs, and sedimentation) can provide important insights to further understand recent (within the past century) trends in coral cover and diversity. Here we use a compilation of recently published data to investigate the Holocene development of five fringing reefs that are located on a cross-shelf transect on the central Great Barrier Reef, and that are exposed to varying degrees of natural and anthropogenic sedimentation, storm exposure, and Holocene sea-level change. Forty-two reef cores collected using a combination of manual percussion coring and hydraulic drilling techniques, were analysed and dated using uranium-thorium methods. The chronostratigraphic records of reef development established using 105 recently published radiometric ages and seven new uranium-thorium ages from the reef cores and fossil microatolls preserved across the reef flats were compared to investigate cross-shelf variations in reef development. This is the first study to conduct an internal investigation of reef framework across an inshore–offshore gradient to examine the varying levels of influence of sedimentation, sea level and cyclones. Our observations from the central Great Barrier Reef show that reefs furthest offshore from the mainland coast were typically initiated earliest after the post-glacial marine transgression. Reef flat size, morphology, and growth style varied according to constraints placed on reef development by the composition, depth, shape, and relief of the underlying substrate. We establish that terrigenous sedimentation had a marked effect on the development of inshore reefs closest to the mainland (within 10 km of the mainland coast). Periods of relatively high terrigenous sedimentation correspond with enhanced reef accretion rates, and also resulted in a superior record of palaeo-ecological coral composition (i.e., better preservation) at inshore sites. In contrast, mid-Holocene cyclones played a seemingly more important role in the development of reefs >10 km from the mainland; although cyclones clearly affect reefs closer inshore, their geomorphology is affected by a range of controlling factors. Insights provided by these five Holocene reef chronostratigraphies provide useful baseline understanding of reef condition and growth along a cross-shelf transect where the reefs are exposed to variable stressors.

Delta initiation and Holocene sea-level change: example from the Song Hong (Red River) delta, Vietnam

2004 ◽  
Vol 164 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 237-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazuaki Hori ◽  
Susumu Tanabe ◽  
Yoshiki Saito ◽  
Shigeko Haruyama ◽  
Viet Nguyen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Sea Level Change ◽  
River Delta ◽  
Red River ◽  
Red River Delta ◽  
Level Change ◽  
Holocene Sea Level

scholarly journals Late Holocene sea-level change around Newfoundland

2007 ◽  
Vol 44 (10) ◽  
pp. 1453-1465 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia F Daly ◽  
Daniel F Belknap ◽  
Joseph T Kelley ◽  
Trevor Bell
Keyword(s):  
Salt Marsh ◽  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Sea Level Change ◽  
Laurentide Ice Sheet ◽  
Change Analysis ◽  
Level Change ◽  
Rising Sea Level ◽  
Holocene Sea Level

Differential sea-level change in formerly glaciated areas is predicted owing to variability in extent and timing of glacial coverage. Newfoundland is situated close to the margin of the former Laurentide ice sheet, and the orientation of the shoreline affords the opportunity to investigate variable rates and magnitudes of sea-level change. Analysis of salt-marsh records at four sites around the island yields late Holocene sea-level trends. These trends indicate differential sea-level change in recent millennia. A north–south geographic trend reflects submergence in the south, very slow sea-level rise in the northeast, and a recent transition from falling to rising sea-level at the base of the Northern Peninsula. This variability is best explained as a continued isostatic response to deglaciation.

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