Terrazas arrecifales sumergidas en el NE de la isla de Hawaii
- Á. Puga-Bernabéu 1
- J.M. Webster 2
- J.C. Braga 1
- D.A. Clague 3
- D.C. Potts 4
- A. Dutton 5
- G. Jacobsen 6
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1
Universidad de Granada
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- 2 The University of Sydney
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3
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
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4
University of California System
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- 5 Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra
- 6 ANSTO Institute for Environmental Research
ISSN: 1576-5172
Year of publication: 2012
Issue Title: VIII Congreso Geológico de España, Oviedo, 17-19 de julio, 2012.
Issue: 13
Pages: 585-588
Type: Article
More publications in: Geotemas (Madrid)
Abstract
Drowned carbonate reefs platforms on rapidly subsiding margins contain a unique and largely unexploited archive of sea level and climate changes. In the Hawaiian Islands, subsidence results from the isostatic response to volcanic loading over the Hawaiian hotspot. Linked to this long-term uniform subsidence (2.5-2.7 m/ka), a series of coral reefs have grown and drowned episodically around Hawaii over the last 500 ka. In the eastern part of the island, offshore Hilo, six submerged terraces between 100 and 1200 m depth have been identified and characterized. Six main sedimentary lithofacies are recognized: 1) Shallow-water (0 to 20 m) coral reef limestones; 2) Intermediate (20 to 60 m) coralgal nodules and crusts; 3) Deep-water (60 to 120 m) coralline algal-foraminiferal crusts and nodules; 4) Microbial carbonates; 5) Hemipelagic/pelagic limestones; and 6) Redeposited limestones. These facies backstep upslope in each terrace, developing a consistent drowning sequence. Under the high subsidence rate of Hawaii, the coral reef terraces drowned during major deglaciations and progressive sea level rise associated with interstadial events. Age-depth relationships suggest that the generation of shallowwater production in each terrace was coeval with the deep- water production on previously drowned shallow-water carbonate factories.