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Holocene Coral Reef Terraces and Coseismic Uplift of Huon Peninsula, Papua New Guinea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Y. Ota ,
J. Chappell ,
R. Kelley ,
N. Yonekura ,
E. Matsumoto ,
T. Nishimura  and
J. Head
Y. Ota
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, Yokohama National University, Japan
J. Chappell
Affiliation:
Biogeography and Geomorphology, Australian National University, Australia
R. Kelley
Affiliation:
P.O. Box 1859, Townsville, Australia
N. Yonekura
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Tokyo, Japan
E. Matsumoto
Affiliation:
Water Research Institute, Nagoya University, Japan
T. Nishimura
Affiliation:
Water Research Institute, Nagoya University, Japan
J. Head
Affiliation:
Radiocarbon Laboratory, Australian National University, Australia
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Abstract

As many as six levels of emerged Holocene coral terraces occur along 40 km of coastline on the Huon Peninsula, Papua New Guinea, recording uplift history since culmination of the postglacial transgression. The Holocene reef crest, ca. 6000 yr B.P., is tilted down to the northwest, parallel to the coast and concordant with the deformation of the last interglacial coral reef terrace, and descends from 23 to 12 m in the study area. The pattern and rate of deformation have been uniform in the late Quaternary because average uplift rates have remained the same since the last interglaciation. The Holocene terraces described here are erosional features with regressive encrusting corals, developed upon the Holocene transgressive reef. The multiple levels represent episodic, probably coseismic uplift, which has occurred repeatedly in the last ca. 6000 yr. Significant longshore variation in the age of the lowest terrace, from 1700 to 2500 yr B.P., suggests independent coseismic uplift on different sectors of the coast. This is supported by age-height relationships of the higher Holocene terraces. Nonlinear uplift during the Holocene, with recurrence intervals increasing toward the present, is clearly recorded by the regressive terraces in each subregion. Some of the Holocene regressive terraces grade laterally into fluvial terraces capped with debris-flow deposits, probably reflecting seismically triggered mass movement.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 40 , Issue 2 , September 1993 , pp. 177 - 188
Copyright
University of Washington

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