Late Pleistocene sediment record of the Maldives carbonate platform

DOI

A piston core from the Maldives carbonate platform was investigated for carbonate mineralogy, grain-size distributions, calcium carbonate content and organic carbon. The sedimentary record was linked to Late Pleistocene sea-level variations, using an age model based on oxygen isotopes obtained from planktonic foramanifera, nannofossil biostratigraphy and 14C age determinations. The correlation between the sedimentary record and Late Pleistocene sea-level showed that variations in aragonite and mud during the past 150 000 years were clearly related to flooding and sea floor exposure of the main lagoons of the atolls of the Maldives carbonate platform. Platform flooding events were characterized by strongly increased deposition of aragonite and mud within the Inner Sea of the Maldives. Exposure events, in contrast, can be recognized by rapid decreases in the values of both proxy records. The results show that sediments on the Maldives carbonate platform contain a continuous record of Pleistocene sea-level variations. These sediments may, therefore, contribute to a better understanding of regional and even global sea-level changes, and yield new insights into the interplay between ocean currents and carbonate platform morphology.

Supplement to: Paul, Andreas; Reijmer, John J G; Fürstenau, Jörn; Kinkel, Hanno; Betzler, Christian (2012): Relationship between Late Pleistocene sea-level variations, carbonate platform morphology and aragonite production (Maldives, Indian Ocean). Sedimentology, 59(5), 1640-1658

Identifier
DOI https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.832252
Related Identifier IsSupplementTo https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3091.2011.01319.x
Metadata Access https://ws.pangaea.de/oai/provider?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=datacite4&identifier=oai:pangaea.de:doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.832252
Provenance
Creator Paul, Andreas ORCID logo; Reijmer, John J G ORCID logo; Fürstenau, Jörn; Kinkel, Hanno; Betzler, Christian ORCID logo
Publisher PANGAEA
Publication Year 2012
Rights Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
OpenAccess true
Representation
Resource Type Supplementary Publication Series of Datasets; Collection
Format application/zip
Size 5 datasets
Discipline Earth System Research
Spatial Coverage (73.246 LON, 4.262 LAT)