Crustal subsidence rate off Hawaii determined from sup 234 U/ sup 238 U ages of drowned coral reefs

Journal Article · Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 EST 1991 · Geology; (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1130/0091-7613(1991)019<0171:CSROHD>2.3.CO;2· OSTI ID:5679617

Ludwig, K R; Szabo, B J; Simmons, K R ^[1]; Moore, J G ^[2]

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1. U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, CO (USA)
2. U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA (USA)

A series of submerged coral reefs off northwestern Hawaii was formed during (largely glacial) intervals when the rate of local sea-level rise was less than the maximum upward growth rate of the reefs. Mass-spectrometric {sup 234}U/{sup 238}U ages for samples from six such reefs range from 17 to 475 ka and indicate that this part of the Hawaiian Ridge has been subsiding at a roughly uniform rate of 2.6 mm/yr for the past 475 ka. The {sup 234}U/{sup 238}U ages are in general agreement with model ages of reef drowning (based on estimates of paleo-sea-level stands derived from oxygen-isotope ratios of deep-sea sediments), but there are disagreements in detail. The high attainable precision ({plus minus}10 ka or better on samples younger than {approximately}800 ka), large applicable age range, relative robustness against open-system behavior, and ease of analysis for this technique hold great promise for future applications of dating of 50-1,000 ka coral.

• OSTI ID: 5679617
• Journal Information: Geology; (USA), Vol. 19:2; ISSN 0091-7613
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
CORALS
ISOTOPE DATING
HAWAII
REEFS
AGE ESTIMATION
GROUND SUBSIDENCE
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
GLACIERS
ISOTOPE RATIO
OCEANIC CRUST
OXYGEN ISOTOPES
SEA LEVEL
URANIUM 234
URANIUM 238
VARIATIONS
ACTINIDE ISOTOPES
ACTINIDE NUCLEI
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
ANIMALS
CNIDARIA
COELENTERATA
EARTH CRUST
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
FEDERAL REGION IX
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
HEAVY ION DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
HEAVY NUCLEI
INVERTEBRATES
ISOTOPES
LEVELS
MAGNESIUM 28 DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
NEON 24 DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
NORTH AMERICA
NUCLEI
RADIOISOTOPES
URANIUM ISOTOPES
USA
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
580000* - Geosciences