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C!I3:Zf in Two Remot E Seyche Lles Atolls Suggest Differential Eme Rge Nce (1.2 M in Farquhar, 0.8 M in St

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C!I3:Zf in Two Remot E Seyche Lles Atolls Suggest Differential Eme Rge Nce (1.2 M in Farquhar, 0.8 M in St Journal of Coas tal Researc h Fort Laud erd ale, Florida Differential Vertical Crustal Movements Deduced from Late Holocene Coral-Rich Conglomerates: Farquhar and St. Joseph Atolls (Seychelles, Western Indian Ocean) P.A. Pirazzoli", P.A. Kaplinl and L.F. Montaggioni' tCNRS-URA141 ' F acu lty of Geograp hy ' CNRS-U RA 1208 Labora toire de Geographie Moscow State University Ce n tr e de Sedimentologie­ Phy siq ue Moscow 119899 Paleontolog ic 1 Place Aristide-Briand U.S .S.R. Universrte de Provence 9219 5 Me udon-Bellevue Place Victor Hugo France 13331 Marseill e Cedex 03 France AB STRACT_••••••••••••••••_ PIRAZZOLI , P.A.; KAPLIN, P.A. and MONTAGGIONI , L.F., 199 0. Differenti al vertical crusta l movements ded uced from la t e Hol ocen e co ra l- r ich co ng lome rates: Farquhar a nd St. Joseph .tftllllllt. atolls <Seychelles, western Indian Ocean). J ournal of Coas ta l R esear ch , 6(2) , 381-389. Fort Lau­ •••e • derdale (Florida). ISSN 0749 -02 08 . ~ ~. #. Petrological analysi s a nd r adiom etric dating of sa m ples collecte d fro m coral-rich con g lom erates C!I3:Zf in two remot e Seyche lles atolls suggest differential eme rge nce (1.2 m in Farquhar, 0.8 m in St. Jo seph) si nce th e a lmost simu ltaneo us depositi on of t he conglome ra te mat eri a l, a bout on e t hou ­ =+ ;-- sand years a go. This confirms th at tectonic a lly t he Seyc he lles a r ea wa s r el ative ly un st able dur­ ing lat e Qu aternary times, a s a lre a dy suggeste d by a prev iou s study . ADDITIONAL INDEX WORDS: Cora l reef. petrologi cal analysis, atoll , S eychell es , In dian Ocean , sea level, vertical movements . INTRODUCTION Indian Ocean have been outlined by RABINOV­ {' ITZ et at. (1983), BRAINTHWAITE (1984) a nd In Jan uary a n d Februar y 1986 , under t he MART (1988). In the Ami rante Are, only coral auspices of Project IGCP -200 "Sea level corre­ atolls and sa nd cays are expose d today and no lati on and applications ," an inte rnational ex pe­ ign eou s ro cks are known (BA K E R, 1963). dition, aboa rd the R/V Professor S htokman of Between the Amirante Isl a nds (Seychelles) an d the Institute of Oceanology of the Acad emy of Mad agascar , small marine plateaux, t he origin Sciences of the US SR , was dev ot ed to pal aeo­ of whic h is not clear , rise from dep ths of over geographic an d geo mor pho logical investiga­ 2000 m. They bear Farqu har and a few ot her tions in she lf and coastal areas of the wes te rn small is lands (Providence , St . Pierre, etc.) (Fig­ Indian Ocean (Kapli n et al ., 1986 ). Th is gave an ure 1) . Farquhar Ato ll consists of a small num­ opportu ni ty for a s hort visit t o a few small ber of coral sand is lands located near the north­ oceanic islands, re mote and difficul t to access. In this pap er a comparison is ma de between east rim of a slig htly submerged bank, 9 to 21 results obtaine d in Farquhar (10°11 'S, 51°07'E) km wide, and is locate d abo ut halfway between and in St . Joseph (5°25'S, 53°20' E) Isl ands, sug­ Cape Ambe r, the nort h point of Mad aga sca r , gesting 't h e occ urrence of slight di ffer ential and the Amirante Trench. It was discovered by crustal movements durin g the late Holocen e. J oao de Nova in 1504 and renamed in 1824 after Si r R. Farquhar, Gove rnor of Ma uritius (Lion­ GEOLOGICAL SETTING AND net, ,970). In 1905 it was visited by the Percy PREVIOUS WORK Slade n Trust Expedit io n. Geomorpho logical information on t he atoll has been provide d The geodynamic h istory a nd the geologic and main ly by GARDINER and COO PE R (1907), tectonic settings of t his a rea of t he western GARDINER (1936), BAKER (1963), an d es pe­ 89019 received 28 March 1989; accept ed in revisi on 14 August 1989. cia lly by STODDART and POORE (1970), BAT- Col.:) 00 t\:) (, I ;s:~s i C- 300 km \ 50° I o I (' I ~~( -- I I \ I , ( / .i~) ,. c: 'J~ St. ~osePh (-" r I'" \ ) ( " ~ "(,.... \",r\_, I '/ fA\ '---'r):_.~:~ ~ I \~:\,. a.. \ I ,.f}/~. -; _._.... J , • .., \ , ... 6JSt. Joseph ~ N '.. N SON AL I 8ASI H ",,-' f) o J \ \ ~ t , "\ ttl '"'l 2km , ::s , ,.'" II: \ ... " II! e:- II~ O = G ""0 I-'+') ~I ,". ::;. (1 ~l ,;: ~ N o ~J ,l N ~ ......("""I 1\\~ ~ ~ ••••••• ~ e:- North Island ~ \ ,~. ~ ff : ~ ~ ~~ ~.," . ~ ~ Farquhar Is. 'E.. (t) ~..... ~ \"~ ~ ..... , t ..... :.~? S' '"'l ~ n '<~~.;.~ ::s ?"" '-:<:., ( 0.. _~.., Aldabra ... ~ -< ~ \........ ~ I. des Deposes IS2 VI;{ '.' ~O'J o " \''', Z 10° Q C)-~OrqUhOr ~ q '/.~ . ~t\:) .~~.::" ~; .: -, .:'. ~ (.0 (.0 o a» -- 0 to rnA [Z]B[2JC Vertical Crustal Movements in the Seychelles 383 TISTINI (1977) and BATTISTINI and rante Trench. Geomorphological information is JOUANNIC (1979). extremely scarce and fragmentary in the Ami­ Evidence of emergence in Farquhar has been rantes. From St. Joseph, ecology and geomor­ reported by GARDINER (1936) from the north­ phology observations have been reported by western part of the atoll, where isolated masses STODDART and COE (1979). Hoa-like features of rock on the outer sides of the surrounding have been described in St. Joseph by BAKER reef and on small islets (Ile du Milieu, Ile des (1963, p. 54) as follows: "The reef has a well Lapins, l le des Deposes), sparsely scattered developed outer ramp on all sides except the with small encrusting corals, are interpreted west.... There are openings in the reef margin (p. 432) as remnants "of an almost or quite con­ but no deep passes communicating with the tinuous reef that stood up for 10 feet or more lagoon, which spills its water at tide changes above the water level and formerly surrounded through a number of narrow channels." the whole bank." STODDART and POORE (1970), though they did not visit these islets, METHODS estimate that "they may be storm-cast reef­ blocks." BATTISTINI (1977) and BATTISTINI According to the method used by MONTAG­ and JOUANNIC (1979) describe these rocky GIONI and PIRAZZOLI (1984) in coral reef masses as compact limestone, including large areas of the South Pacific, especially near the coral heads, some of which are in growth posi­ Tuamotu hoa, relative sea-level drops can gen­ tion, and recemented coralline breccias. On the erally be determined from petrological analysis small islets they are capped with storm ram­ of exposed skeletal conglomerates. This is parts and vegetation. Two coral samples, col­ obtained by sampling the conglomerates on ver­ lected from this compact limestone on the Ile tical sections, at several levels between the des Deposes at the highest tide level, were present-day low-tide level and the upper part of dated 3100 ± 700 (Th/U) and 3640 ± 100 e4 C) the outcrops, and identifying by petrological yr BP respectively. A third sample, collected 0.5 analysis the possible diagenetic boundary m higher than the highest tide level, was dated between two different marine environments of 4900 ± 600 yr BP. This would indicate, accord­ cementation (phreatic and vadose) for the first ing to BATTISTINI and JOUANNIC (1979), a generation of intergranular cements. In the former sea-level stand about 2 m above present. absence of moating phenomena, this boundary In the eastern part of Farquhar Atoll, indi­ is considered to be related to the former mean cations of recent emergence are less elevated. low-tide level at the time of cementation. The They consist of slightly emerged beachrocks difference in elevation between this boundary and conglomerates around the northern part of and the present-day mean low tide level is North Island and especially in the Manaha regarded as corresponding to the relative sea­ Islands, where the surface of conglomerate flag­ level change which has occurred since the early stones stands about 0.5 m above high water lithification of the rubbly deposit concerned. level (STODDART and POORE, 1970). This Radiocarbon dating of aragonitic coral frag­ surface could correspond, according to BATTIS­ ments, sampled from the deposit near the TINI and JOUANNIC (1979), to a former sea­ boundary level, will provide useful indications level stand a little over one metre higher than of the maximum age of the former sea level. at present, i.e., about one metre lower than in This method, which has been applied success­ the northwest part of the atoll. As noted by fully to atolls and barrier reefs of French Poly­ STODDART and POORE (1970), there is a clear nesia (for detailed references, see PIRAZZOLI similarity between the conglomerates and shal­ and MONTAGGIONI, 1988), is used here for low channels around the Manaha Islands and the first time on Indian Ocean reef material. the hoa in the Tuamotu Islands (South Pacific). Measurements of altitude have been referred St. Joseph is an atoll, 4 to 6 km in diameter, to the tide levels predicted by the Admiralty located on the east side of the Amirante Bank, Tide Tables at D'Arros Island (for St. Joseph) which is situated near the western tip of the and at Farquhar, with reference to Zanzibar. Seychelles Bank, on the east side of the Ami- However, no tide gauge is in operation now in Figure 1 (facing page).
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