A re-evaluation of Holocene relative sea-level change along the Fujian coast, southeastern China

The southeastern China coast is a region of special interest in the study of past and present relative sea-level change, given its distal location from giant ice sheets (far-field regions). During the past decades, a large number of biological, geological, and archaeological sea-level indicators hav...

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Main Authors: Yu, Fengling, Li, Nannan, Tian, Ganghua, Huang, Zhaoquan, Xiong, Haixian, Li, Tanghua, Liu, Shengtao, Liu, Yuze
Other Authors: Earth Observatory of Singapore
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2023
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Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/168864
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-1688642023-06-27T15:36:28Z A re-evaluation of Holocene relative sea-level change along the Fujian coast, southeastern China Yu, Fengling Li, Nannan Tian, Ganghua Huang, Zhaoquan Xiong, Haixian Li, Tanghua Liu, Shengtao Liu, Yuze Earth Observatory of Singapore Science::Geology Relative Sea Level Holocene Fujian Coast The southeastern China coast is a region of special interest in the study of past and present relative sea-level change, given its distal location from giant ice sheets (far-field regions). During the past decades, a large number of biological, geological, and archaeological sea-level indicators have been retrieved from the Fujian coastal region which allows for recalibration and recalculation of sea-level index points (SLIPs). This study constructs a database of Holocene relative sea-level (RSL) observations for the Fujian coast, southeastern China. The database contains 59 quality-controlled SLIPs which show that RSL for the Fujian coast did not exceed present (0 m) during the Holocene, except potentially during 7.5–5.5 cal. kyr BP and 1.8–0.7 cal. kyr BP. Rates of RSL change were highest during the early Holocene and have decreased over time, due to the diminishing response of the Earth's mantle to glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) and reduction of meltwater input. A series of sea-level oscillations were recorded in our SLIPs-based reconstructions which might correspond to global climate warming or cooling events. We assessed the spatial variability of RSL histories and compared these with the ICE-6G_C and ANU-ICE GIA model predictions. Substantial misfits between GIA predictions and regional RSL reconstructions were recognized: (1) the deceleration of the early-Holocene sea-level rise ended about one millennia earlier in the ICE-6G_C model than in the SLIPs-based reconstructions; (2) GIA model predictions show a mid-Holocene sea-level highstand of 1–3 m which is absent from our SLIPs-based reconstructions; and (3) all GIA model predicted a gradual RSL fall to 0 m since the middle Holocene, while our reconstruction displays significant RSL oscillations. It is presently unknown whether these misfits are caused by uncertainties in regional tectonic movement estimation or parameters used in the GIA models. Future applications of spatiotemporal statistical techniques are required to better quantify the gradient of the isostatic contribution and to provide improved context for the assessment of the ongoing acceleration of sea-level rise. Ministry of Education (MOE) National Research Foundation (NRF) Submitted/Accepted version This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 42076207 to Fengling Yu); the Funda- mental Research Funds for the Central Universities of Xiamen University (Grant No. 20720190096 to Fengling Yu); the China Postdoctoral Sci- ence Foundation (Grant No. 2021M691862 to Nannan Li); the Singapore Ministry of Education Academic Research Fund MOE2019-T3-1-004 and MOE-T2EP50120-0007, the National Research Foundation Singapore, and the Singapore Ministry of Education, under the Research Centers of Excellence initiative (to Tanghua Li). 2023-06-21T01:52:34Z 2023-06-21T01:52:34Z 2023 Journal Article Yu, F., Li, N., Tian, G., Huang, Z., Xiong, H., Li, T., Liu, S. & Liu, Y. (2023). A re-evaluation of Holocene relative sea-level change along the Fujian coast, southeastern China. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 622, 111577-. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2023.111577 0031-0182 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/168864 10.1016/j.palaeo.2023.111577 2-s2.0-85154576233 622 111577 en MOE2019-T3-1-004 MOE-T2EP50120-0007 Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. This paper was published in Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology and is made available with permission of Elsevier B.V. application/pdf
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider NTU Library
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic Science::Geology
Relative Sea Level
Holocene
Fujian Coast
spellingShingle Science::Geology
Relative Sea Level
Holocene
Fujian Coast
Yu, Fengling
Li, Nannan
Tian, Ganghua
Huang, Zhaoquan
Xiong, Haixian
Li, Tanghua
Liu, Shengtao
Liu, Yuze
A re-evaluation of Holocene relative sea-level change along the Fujian coast, southeastern China
description The southeastern China coast is a region of special interest in the study of past and present relative sea-level change, given its distal location from giant ice sheets (far-field regions). During the past decades, a large number of biological, geological, and archaeological sea-level indicators have been retrieved from the Fujian coastal region which allows for recalibration and recalculation of sea-level index points (SLIPs). This study constructs a database of Holocene relative sea-level (RSL) observations for the Fujian coast, southeastern China. The database contains 59 quality-controlled SLIPs which show that RSL for the Fujian coast did not exceed present (0 m) during the Holocene, except potentially during 7.5–5.5 cal. kyr BP and 1.8–0.7 cal. kyr BP. Rates of RSL change were highest during the early Holocene and have decreased over time, due to the diminishing response of the Earth's mantle to glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) and reduction of meltwater input. A series of sea-level oscillations were recorded in our SLIPs-based reconstructions which might correspond to global climate warming or cooling events. We assessed the spatial variability of RSL histories and compared these with the ICE-6G_C and ANU-ICE GIA model predictions. Substantial misfits between GIA predictions and regional RSL reconstructions were recognized: (1) the deceleration of the early-Holocene sea-level rise ended about one millennia earlier in the ICE-6G_C model than in the SLIPs-based reconstructions; (2) GIA model predictions show a mid-Holocene sea-level highstand of 1–3 m which is absent from our SLIPs-based reconstructions; and (3) all GIA model predicted a gradual RSL fall to 0 m since the middle Holocene, while our reconstruction displays significant RSL oscillations. It is presently unknown whether these misfits are caused by uncertainties in regional tectonic movement estimation or parameters used in the GIA models. Future applications of spatiotemporal statistical techniques are required to better quantify the gradient of the isostatic contribution and to provide improved context for the assessment of the ongoing acceleration of sea-level rise.
author2 Earth Observatory of Singapore
author_facet Earth Observatory of Singapore
Yu, Fengling
Li, Nannan
Tian, Ganghua
Huang, Zhaoquan
Xiong, Haixian
Li, Tanghua
Liu, Shengtao
Liu, Yuze
format Article
author Yu, Fengling
Li, Nannan
Tian, Ganghua
Huang, Zhaoquan
Xiong, Haixian
Li, Tanghua
Liu, Shengtao
Liu, Yuze
author_sort Yu, Fengling
title A re-evaluation of Holocene relative sea-level change along the Fujian coast, southeastern China
title_short A re-evaluation of Holocene relative sea-level change along the Fujian coast, southeastern China
title_full A re-evaluation of Holocene relative sea-level change along the Fujian coast, southeastern China
title_fullStr A re-evaluation of Holocene relative sea-level change along the Fujian coast, southeastern China
title_full_unstemmed A re-evaluation of Holocene relative sea-level change along the Fujian coast, southeastern China
title_sort re-evaluation of holocene relative sea-level change along the fujian coast, southeastern china
publishDate 2023
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/168864
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