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Late Holocene Sea-Level Changes in the Northwest Tuamotu Islands, French Polynesia1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Paolo Antonio Pirazzoli  and
Lucien François Montaggioni
Paolo Antonio Pirazzoli
Affiliation:
CNRS-INTERGEO, 191 rue Saint-Jacques, 75005 Paris, France Centre de l'Environnement de Moorea (Museum-EPHE), B.P. 12, Moorea, French Polynesia France
Lucien François Montaggioni
Affiliation:
Université de la Réunion, B.P. 5, 97490 Sainte-Clotilde, Réunion Island, France, DOM Centre de l'Environnement de Moorea (Museum-EPHE), B.P. 12, Moorea, French Polynesia France
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Abstract

Field surveys of several sea-level indicators (exposed in situ reef framework, conglomerates, coral colonies and Tridacna shells in a growth position, sea-corrosion notches) carried out on six atolls from the NW Tuamotus (Mataiva, Rangiroa, Arutua, Kaukura, Apataki and Takapoto) and data from four subsurface boreholes drilled through Mataiva show that during the late Holocene mean sea level (MSL) reached a maximum elevation at approximately + 0.9 m. It remained above the present MSL from between 6000 and 5500 yr B.P. until at least 1200 yr B.P. Human settlements on the atolls were extremely unlikely and probably impossible throughout this time. The area investigated seems to have been tectonically quite stable during the late Holocene. A local curve of MSL variations may be representative of the regional eustatic pattern.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 25 , Issue 3 , May 1986 , pp. 350 - 368
Copyright
University of Washington

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