Publication Date:
2023-07-13
Description:
The topographic survey of the studied outcrops is based on several thousands of measurements per study site and the measurement of the sample elevation with reference to sea level using a real-time kinematic GPS Trimble R8. The maximum vertical (Z) and horizontal (X and Y) elevation errors are of ± 2.0 cm and a few millimetres, respectively.
During the measurement, the surveys were related to the French Polynesian Geodetic Network (Réseau Géodésique de Polynésie Française; RGPF), to operating tide gauges or tide gauge data sets, to probes that were deployed during the field work, to the instantaneous sea level or to modern adjacent microatolls growing in a similar environment than their fossil counterparts. In the absence of geodetic datum or tide gauges, probes were deployed for four to five days in order to measure the sea-level position and to compare the data to the elevation of modern microatolls. The relative sea-level curve, which is presented in this paper, is based on data acquired on islands for which longer tidal records and geodetic data are available.
After acquisition, the raw data were processed with the aims: 1) to estimate the elevation of individual dated fossil microatolls based on local tide gauge parameters, and 2) to compare the elevation of all dated fossil microatolls according to the same vertical reference.
The link between tide gauge data and the position of the living and fossil microatolls can be established using RGPF. However, a topographic reference at the scale of French Polynesia (4,167 km^2), which is mandatory to achieve the second objective, does not exist, as tide gauge observations are incomplete and the NGPF (Nivellement Général de Polynésie Française) vertical datum that is associated to the RGPF is not homogeneous at this regional scale.
The official geodetic system in French Polynesia is the RGPF, which is associated with the NGPF vertical datum. The French Polynesian Geodetic Network is a semi-dynamic system with different levels established by the Naval Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service (Service Hydrographique et Océanographique de la Marine; SHOM) in cooperation with the National Geographic Institute (Institut Géographique National; IGN).
The selection of microatolls for dating has been based on the lack of erosion features, the absence of local moating effects and their mineralogical preservation, demonstrating that our database is robust. The chemical preparation, mass-spectrometer measurements and age dating were performed in the years 2014 to 2016 mostly directly after field collection. The data are presented in Supplementary Table 2 following recommendations from Dutton et al. (2017). The best-preserved samples, as indicated by X-ray Powder Diffraction (XRD) measurements, comprise 97.5% aragonite on average (n = 281). Additionally, no secondary aragonite or calcite crystals were revealed by thin section and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) observations.
Type:
Dataset
Format:
application/zip, 2 datasets
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