Inferring the tectonic history of Northwestern Luzon, Philippines, using coral microatoll records

The Philippines sits in a tectonically complex region, bounded by oppositely-dipping subduction zones to the east and west. The possibility that these megathrusts could generate earthquakes and tsunamis that could potentially devastate thousands of lives and infrastructure is worrying, but our under...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Tan, Fang Yi
Other Authors: Aron Meltzner
Format: Final Year Project (FYP)
Language:English
Published: 2019
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10356/77102
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author Tan, Fang Yi
author2 Aron Meltzner
author_facet Aron Meltzner
Tan, Fang Yi
author_sort Tan, Fang Yi
collection NTU
description The Philippines sits in a tectonically complex region, bounded by oppositely-dipping subduction zones to the east and west. The possibility that these megathrusts could generate earthquakes and tsunamis that could potentially devastate thousands of lives and infrastructure is worrying, but our understanding of potential faults has hitherto been limited by the lack of geologic and geodetic data, especially in northwestern Luzon (Megawati, et al., 2008; Ramos & Tsutsumi, 2010; Hsu, et al., 2016). This motivated us to collect data from northwestern Luzon to fill this data gap. Here, I present the relative sea level (RSL) records of microatolls from northwestern Luzon – in particular from the Katipunan Barangay in the province of Ilocos Sur. The Katipunan microatolls (ranging from between ~4000 cal yrs BP to ~6000 cal yrs BP in age) are the only microatolls of their generation. Together, they reveal changes in RSL between ~4000 cal yrs BP and ~6000 cal yrs BP that cannot be explained by glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) alone. Although we currently do not have sufficient data to distinguish if the RSL fluctuations were tectonically induced or sea-level driven, the fact that either of these would produce starkly different implications for hazard mitigation implores us to carry on further work to better understand the RSL signal we observe at Katipunan, and if this RSL oscillation is unique to that site.
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spelling ntu-10356/771022023-02-28T16:47:08Z Inferring the tectonic history of Northwestern Luzon, Philippines, using coral microatoll records Tan, Fang Yi Aron Meltzner Asian School of the Environment DRNTU::Science::Geology The Philippines sits in a tectonically complex region, bounded by oppositely-dipping subduction zones to the east and west. The possibility that these megathrusts could generate earthquakes and tsunamis that could potentially devastate thousands of lives and infrastructure is worrying, but our understanding of potential faults has hitherto been limited by the lack of geologic and geodetic data, especially in northwestern Luzon (Megawati, et al., 2008; Ramos & Tsutsumi, 2010; Hsu, et al., 2016). This motivated us to collect data from northwestern Luzon to fill this data gap. Here, I present the relative sea level (RSL) records of microatolls from northwestern Luzon – in particular from the Katipunan Barangay in the province of Ilocos Sur. The Katipunan microatolls (ranging from between ~4000 cal yrs BP to ~6000 cal yrs BP in age) are the only microatolls of their generation. Together, they reveal changes in RSL between ~4000 cal yrs BP and ~6000 cal yrs BP that cannot be explained by glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) alone. Although we currently do not have sufficient data to distinguish if the RSL fluctuations were tectonically induced or sea-level driven, the fact that either of these would produce starkly different implications for hazard mitigation implores us to carry on further work to better understand the RSL signal we observe at Katipunan, and if this RSL oscillation is unique to that site. Bachelor of Science in Environmental Earth Systems Science 2019-05-07T09:08:02Z 2019-05-07T09:08:02Z 2019 Final Year Project (FYP) http://hdl.handle.net/10356/77102 en Nanyang Technological University 133 p. application/pdf
spellingShingle DRNTU::Science::Geology
Tan, Fang Yi
Inferring the tectonic history of Northwestern Luzon, Philippines, using coral microatoll records
title Inferring the tectonic history of Northwestern Luzon, Philippines, using coral microatoll records
title_full Inferring the tectonic history of Northwestern Luzon, Philippines, using coral microatoll records
title_fullStr Inferring the tectonic history of Northwestern Luzon, Philippines, using coral microatoll records
title_full_unstemmed Inferring the tectonic history of Northwestern Luzon, Philippines, using coral microatoll records
title_short Inferring the tectonic history of Northwestern Luzon, Philippines, using coral microatoll records
title_sort inferring the tectonic history of northwestern luzon philippines using coral microatoll records
topic DRNTU::Science::Geology
url http://hdl.handle.net/10356/77102
work_keys_str_mv AT tanfangyi inferringthetectonichistoryofnorthwesternluzonphilippinesusingcoralmicroatollrecords