Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-l4dxg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-08T22:51:42.058Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Sea Level Changes in the Last Several Thousand Years, Penghu Islands, Taiwan Strait

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Yue-Gau Chen  and
Tsung-Kwei Liu
Yue-Gau Chen
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, National Taiwan University, 245 Choushan Road, Taipei, 106, Taiwan, Republic of China
Tsung-Kwei Liu
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, National Taiwan University, 245 Choushan Road, Taipei, 106, Taiwan, Republic of China
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Holocene shore-face and beach-face deposits form plains <5 m above present sea level along Taiwan Strait. We measured the 14C ages of detrital mollusk shells and coral in such deposits at the Penghu Islands. Twelve carbonate samples—mainly from the largest island, Makung—were dated. Age measurements for two coral samples and one mollusk sample from the same outcrop imply that the 14C ages of mollusk shells give the best approximation of depositional age. The highest Holocene relative sea level in the Penghu Islands occurred about 4700 years ago with a height about 2.4 m above the present sea level. Thereafter, relative sea level appreciably fell without detectable fluctuations to its recent position. Our sea level data are consistent with other studies from the central and western Pacific, except for the timing of peak sea level position. This variation may reflect local crustal response to hydroisostatic effects on the continental shelf.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 45 , Issue 3 , May 1996 , pp. 254 - 262
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adey, W. H. (1978). Coral reef morphogenesis: A multi-dimensional model. Science 202 , 831–837.Google Scholar
Chow, J. Chen, H. M. Chang, T. Y. Kou, C. L., and Tsai, S. F. (1991). Preliminary study on hydrocarbon plays around Nanjitao basin. Taiwan Strait. Petroleum Geology of Taiwan 26 , 45–56.Google Scholar
Fairbridge, R. W. (1961). Eustatic changes in sea level. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth 5 , 99–185.Google Scholar
Fujii, S., and Fuji, N. (1967). Postglacial sea level in the Japanese islands. Journal of Geoscience, Osaka City University 10 , 43–50.Google Scholar
Haq, B. U. Hardenbol, J., and Vail, R. P. (1987). Chronology of fluctuating sea levels since the Triassic. Science 235 , 1156–1167.Google ScholarPubMed
Ho, C. S. (1982). “Tectonic Evolution of Taiwan.” Ministry of Economic Affairs, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China.Google Scholar
Hsiao, P. T. Hu, C. C. Lin, K. A. Hsu, S. H. Fuh, S. C. Chang, T. Y. Hsiuan, T. H. Sheen, H. C. Kuo, C. L., and Lee, C. J. (1991). Hydrocarbon potential evaluation of the Penghu Basin. Petrol. Geol. Taiwan 26, 215–229. [In Chinese] Google Scholar
Huang, Z. G. Li, P. G. Zhang, Z. G., and Zong, Y. Q. (1987). Sea level changes along the coastal area of south China since late Pleistocene. In “Late Quaternary Sea level Changes” (Qin, Y. and Zhao, S., Eds.), pp. 142–154. China Ocean Press.Google Scholar
Juang, W. S. (1988). Geochronology and chemical variations of late Cenozoic volcanic rocks in Taiwan. Ph.D. dissertation, Institute of Oceanography, National Taiwan University. [In Chinese] Google Scholar
Kayanne, H. Yonekura, N. Ishii, T., and Matsumoto, E. (1988). Geomorphic and geologic development of Holocene emerged reefs on Rota and Guam, Mariana Islands. In “Sea Level Changes and Tectonics in the Middle Pacific,” Report of the HIPAC Projection 1986 and 1987, pp. 35–57. Department of Geography, University of Tokyo.Google Scholar
Kern, J. P. (1977). Origin and history of upper Pleistocene marine terraces, San Diego, California. Geological Society of America Bulletin 88 , 1553–1566.Google Scholar
Kidson, C. (1982). Sea level changes in the Holocene. Quaternary Science Reviews 1 , 121–151.Google Scholar
Kira, P. (1965). “Shells of the Western Pacific in Color,” Vol. I. Hoikusha, Japan.Google Scholar
Krantz, D. E. Jones, D. S., and Williams, D. F. (1984). Growth rates of the sea scallop, Placopecten maggellanicus, determined from the 18O/16O record in shell calcite. Biological Bulletin 167 , 186–199.Google Scholar
Lee, C. Y. (1990). Late Miocene paleogeography reconstruction of Penghu Islands. Presented at the 1990 Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of China; abstracts with Program, p. 24. [In Chinese] Google Scholar
Lee, C. Y., and Chen, C.-H. (1992). Temporal and spatial variation of basalt in Penghu Islands. Presented at the 1992 Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of China, abstracts with Program, p. 92. [In Chinese] Google Scholar
Lee, C. Y. (1994). Chronology and geochemistry of basaltic rocks from Penghu Islands and mafic dikes from east Fujian: Implications for the mantle evolution of SE China since late Mesozoic, p. 226. Ph.D. dissertation, National Taiwan University. [In Chinese] Google Scholar
Lin, C. C. (1967). Geology of the offshore islands of Taiwan. Quar. Jour. Bank of Taiwan 18(4), 229–256. [In Chinese] Google Scholar
Liu, T. K. (1989). Radiometric dates of rocks and sediments from Penghu Islands and Lutao, and their implication of vertical crustal movement. Technical report, Energy & Resources Laboratories of Industrial Technology Research Institute.Google Scholar
Miyata, T. Maeda, Y. Matsumoto, E. Matsushima, Y. Rodda, P., and Sugimura, A. (1988). Emerged notches and micro-atolls on Vanua Levu, Fiji. In “Sea Level Changes and Tectonics in the Middle Pacific,” Report of the HIPAC Project in 1986 and 1987, pp. 67–76. Department of Geography, University of Tokyo.Google Scholar
Morner, N. A. (1983). Differential Holocene sea level change over the global evidence for glacial eustasy, geoidal eustasy and crustal movements. In “Abstracts of International Symposium on the Coastal Evolution in the Holocene,” pp. 93–96. Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo.Google Scholar
Nakada, M. (1986). Holocene sea levels in oceanic islands: Implications for the rheological structure of the Earth’s mantle. Tectonophysics 121 , 263–276.Google Scholar
Ota, Y. Pirazzoli, P. A. Kawana, T., and Moriwaki, H. (1985). Late Holocene coastal morphology and sea level records on three small islands, the South Ryukyus, Japan. Geographical Review of Japan 58(B), 2, 185–194.Google Scholar
Peltier, W. R. Farrell, W. E., and Clark, J. A. (1978). Glacial isostasy and relative sea level: A global finite element model. Tectonophysics 50 , 81–110.Google Scholar
Pinot, J.-P. (1979). Les indicateurs deceles par des methodes oceanographiques, geophysiques ou geochimiques. Oceanis 5 , 335–355.Google Scholar
Pirazzoli, P. A. (1991). “World Atlas of Holocene Sea Level Changes.” Elsevier Oceanography Series, Vol. 58. Elsevier, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Shepard, (1963). Thirty-five thousand years of sea level. In “Essays in Honor of K. O. Emery,” pp. 1–10. Univ. of Southern California Press, Los Angles.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., and Braziunas, T. F. (1993). Modeling atmospheric 14C influences and 14C ages of marine samples to 10,000 BC. Radiocarbon 35(1), 137–190.Google Scholar
Sugimura, A. (1977). Ice sheets, continents and oceans. Kagaku 47 , 749–755. [In Japanese] Google Scholar
Sugimura, A. Maeda, Y. Matsushima, Y. Rodda, P., and Matsumoto, E. (1988). Lobau lowland, Viti Levu, Fiji. In “Sea Level Changes and Tectonics in the Middle Pacific,” Report of the HIPAC Project in 1986 and 1987, pp. 59–65. Department of Geography, University of Tokyo.Google Scholar
Sun, S. C. (1982). The Tertiary basins of offshore Taiwan. In (Salivar-Sali, A., Ed.), pp. 125–135. Technical Programme Committee, ASCOPE. 1981,Google Scholar
Teng, L. S. (1987). Stratigraphic records of the late Cenozoic Penglai Orogeny of Taiwan. Acta Geol. Taiwanica 25, 205–224.Google Scholar
Ting, F. T. C. (1990). Subsidence in an uplifting environment: Case studies in Taiwan. Proceedings of the Geological Society of China 33(1), 1–7.Google Scholar
Tsai, Y. P. Teng, T.-L. Chu, J. M., and Liu, H. L. (1977). Tectonic implications of the seismicity in the Taiwan region. Memoir of the Geological Society of China 2 , 13–41.Google Scholar
Tsai, Y. P. (1986). Seismotectonics of Taiwan. Tectonophysics 125 , 17–37.Google Scholar
Walcott, R. I. (1972). Past sea levels, eustasy and deformation of the Earth. Quaternary Research 2 , 1–14.Google Scholar
Woods, A. J. (1980). Geomorphology, deformation, and chronology of marine terraces along the Pacific coast of central Baja California, Mexico. Quaternary Research 13 , 346–364.Google Scholar
Yang, K. M. Ting, H. H., and Yuan, J. (1991). Structural styles and tectonic modes of Neogene extensional tectonics in southwestern Taiwan: Implications for Hydrocarbon exploration. Petroleum Geology of Taiwan 26 , 1–31.Google Scholar