Collaborative Research: Tectonics and Sea Level History from Submerged Coal Platforms in the Huon Gulf, Papua New Guinea

The PIs will expand their previous study of the subsidence rates in a co1lisional setting in the Huon Gulf of Papua New Guinea. The new study will provide tighter constraints on the short term subsidence rates, and lead to a better understanding of the relationships between uplift, subsidence and convergence in a collisional setting, as well as better chronology for sea-level changes for the last 400 k. years. The PIs will obtain bathymetric images of the drowned coral platforms first with the SeaBeam and later with DSL120 with a resolution of several meters. The reefs will be sampled with an ROV system to obtain Th230 dates. Observed rates of subsidence will be compared to model elastic flexural response to collisional loads.