Reconstruction of Late Pleistocene and Holocene Sea Level Curve for the East Coast of India

Abstract

Holocene sea level curve has been generated for the East Coast of India. About seventy five 14C dates which are available from published works on coastal plains and offshore regions of the East Coast were considered and were subsequently calibrated into calendar years for analysis and plotting thereof. From the 100m depth, a moderate rate of sea level rising at the rate of about 0.88m/100 years is observed during 14,800 to 10,800 YBP. In between 10,800 to 9,200 YBP, a steep rise (Sea Level Rise - SR1) is noticed at the rate of 2.06m/100 years. Following a brief sluggish phase (for nearly about 1,100 years) of slow rising around 0.82m/100 years, another steep rate of rising of about 2.22m/100 years (SR2) is observed during 8,100 to 7,200 YBP. After that period to the Recent, there were 5 minor fluctuations with regression phases dominating over transgression phases in terms of duration and magnitude. It is also observed that the magnitude of all five high stands in between 7,200 to the recent has a decreasing trend from +4m to 0m. It obviously indicates that the most of the present day coastal plains were once under the sea as evidenced by the presence of many inland leftover paleo delta signatures in the East Coast of India.