Insular Erosion, Isostasy, and Subsidence
- 27 May 1983
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Science
- Vol. 220 (4600), 913-918
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.220.4600.913
Abstract
Organic reefs and shore erosion record the intersection of sea level with islands. From this record it is possible to reconstruct the history of vertical movement of the islands and the adjacent deep sea floor, including midplate swells. As judged by coral thickness, islands with barrier reefs sink as though they were on thermally youthful crust regardless of the actual age. Reefless islands do not sink until truncated by erosion. Apparently, thermal subsidence is balanced by isostatic uplift in response to erosion. Barrier reefs prevent wave erosion of encircled volcanoes and capture products of stream erosion so that isostatic uplift is eliminated. Insular shelves widen initially at rates of 0.6 to 1.7 kilometers per million years; the rates decrease with time. Thus the subsidence of islands depends on the size of the is land and the presence of reefs, and it may not always be the same as that of the surrounding oceanic crust.Keywords
This publication has 24 references indexed in Scilit:
- Age progressive volcanism in the Comores Archipelago, western Indian Ocean and implications for Somali plate tectonicsEarth and Planetary Science Letters, 1982
- Hotspot epeirogenyTectonophysics, 1979
- Age of shield-building volcanism of Kauai and linear migration of volcanism in the Hawaiian island chainEarth and Planetary Science Letters, 1979
- The subsidence of aseismic ridgesEarth and Planetary Science Letters, 1977
- Oviposition behaviour and food plant discrimination in leafhoppers of the genus OncopsisEcological Entomology, 1977
- Tectonic SynthesisPublished by International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) ,1976
- Potassium-argon ages, volcanic stratigraphy, and geomagnetic polarity history of the Canary Islands; Tenerife, La Palma and HierroAmerican Journal of Science, 1972
- Submarine Fracture Zones, Aseismic Ridges and the International Council of Scientific Unions Line: Proposed Western Margin of the East Pacific RidgeNature, 1965
- DEFORMATION OF THE NORTHEASTERN PACIFIC BASIN AND THE WEST COAST OF NORTH AMERICAGSA Bulletin, 1955
- Drowned ancient islands of the Pacific BasinAmerican Journal of Science, 1946