90
indicates was between 6 and 10 m above present sea level. The mid-Holocene sealevel highstand around the peninsula was only around 3 m above present sea level.
Deposits associated with previous, higher sea level(s) should have been inland,
above and truncated by mid-Holocene sea-level highstand deposits. Instead, we see
deposits related to the Holocene transgression and highstand lapping directly onto
much older bedrock surfaces. There is no evidence in Peninsular Malaysia to support the idea that pre-Holocene sea level was ever at or above present sea level,
except in much older deformed strata. There is, however, evidence for an older
marine unit in the subsurface, several meters below present sea level, that was probably deposited during the last major interglacial around 120,000 years ago. There
are no age data yet to support this interpretation.
Taking all this into consideration, I concluded that the Peninsular Malaysia
region, or at least the coastal parts, must be slowly subsiding over tens of thousands
to millions of years. It is supported by other researchers’ interpretations of ongoing
subsidence in the South China Sea oil-producing sedimentary basins off the peninsula’s east coast and in the Straits of Malacca.
Paradise Preserved or Being Lost?
In any country, there’s an intimate relationship between her coastal people and the
sea. It’s timeless, going back generations to the earliest people who were drawn by
the salty bounty the oceans provide. It’s a balance, a dependence, a rhythm as
Fig. 5.19 Left panel shows Ophiomorpha trace fossils of burrowing organisms (indicated by
white arrows) in a marginal marine environment in uplifted, horizontally bedded sands of probable
late Pleistocene age. Right panel shows the same type of trace fossils in the older, uplifted and
deformed Cenozoic sandstone that underlies the deposits on the left. Insert shows a close-up of a
burrow. Both sites are located between the mouth of the Niah River and Miri, northern Sarawak.
(Image by Peter R. Parham)
P. R. Parham
indicates was between 6 and 10 m above present sea level. The mid-Holocene sealevel highstand around the peninsula was only around 3 m above present sea level.
Deposits associated with previous, higher sea level(s) should have been inland,
above and truncated by mid-Holocene sea-level highstand deposits. Instead, we see
deposits related to the Holocene transgression and highstand lapping directly onto
much older bedrock surfaces. There is no evidence in Peninsular Malaysia to support the idea that pre-Holocene sea level was ever at or above present sea level,
except in much older deformed strata. There is, however, evidence for an older
marine unit in the subsurface, several meters below present sea level, that was probably deposited during the last major interglacial around 120,000 years ago. There
are no age data yet to support this interpretation.
Taking all this into consideration, I concluded that the Peninsular Malaysia
region, or at least the coastal parts, must be slowly subsiding over tens of thousands
to millions of years. It is supported by other researchers’ interpretations of ongoing
subsidence in the South China Sea oil-producing sedimentary basins off the peninsula’s east coast and in the Straits of Malacca.
Paradise Preserved or Being Lost?
In any country, there’s an intimate relationship between her coastal people and the
sea. It’s timeless, going back generations to the earliest people who were drawn by
the salty bounty the oceans provide. It’s a balance, a dependence, a rhythm as
Fig. 5.19 Left panel shows Ophiomorpha trace fossils of burrowing organisms (indicated by
white arrows) in a marginal marine environment in uplifted, horizontally bedded sands of probable
late Pleistocene age. Right panel shows the same type of trace fossils in the older, uplifted and
deformed Cenozoic sandstone that underlies the deposits on the left. Insert shows a close-up of a
burrow. Both sites are located between the mouth of the Niah River and Miri, northern Sarawak.
(Image by Peter R. Parham)
P. R. Parham