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Control of paleoshorelines by trench forebulge uplift, Loyalty Islands

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

William R. Dickinson
William R. Dickinson*
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, Box 21077, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
*
*Fax: + 1 520 299 5220. E-mail address:wrdickin@dakotacom.net.
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Abstract

Unlike most tropical Pacific islands, which lie along island arcs or hotspot chains, the Loyalty Islands between New Caledonia and Vanuatu owe their existence and morphology to the uplift of pre-existing atolls on the flexural forebulge of the New Hebrides Trench. The configuration and topography of each island is a function of distance from the crest of the uplifted forebulge. Both Maré and Lifou are fully emergent paleoatolls upon which ancient barrier reefs form highstanding annular ridges that enclose interior plateaus representing paleolagoon floors, whereas the partially emergent Ouveapaleoatoll rim flanks a drowned remnant lagoon. Emergent paleoshoreline features exposed by island uplift include paleoreef flats constructed as ancient fringing reefs built to past low tide levels and emergent tidal notches incised at past high tide levels. Present paleoshoreline elevations record uplift rates of the islands since last-interglacial and mid-Holocene highstands in global and regional sea levels, respectively, and paleoreef stratigraphy reflects net Quaternary island emergence. The empirical uplift rates vary in harmony with theoretical uplift rates inferred from the different positions of the islands in transit across the trench forebulge at the trench subduction rate. The Loyalty Islands provide a case study of island environments controlled primarily by neotectonics.

Keywords

LifouLoyalty IslandsMaréNew CaledoniaNew Hebrides TrenchOuveaPaleoshorelinesPlate motionsTidal notchesTrench forebulges
Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 80 , Issue 1 , July 2013 , pp. 125 - 137
Copyright
University of Washington

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