Candace Pre

We investigated coastal lowland environments of the western coast of Sumatra, near the coastal village of Sungai Pinang, in order to document stratigraphic evidence for rapid subsidence accompanying great paleo-earthquakes on the Padang portion of the Sumatran subduction zone. Characterizing Holocene vertical land-level changes in the regional stratigraphic record will help identify great paleo-earthquakes and determine the extent of the

Dynamic variations in sea level and solid Earth properties along active subduction zones predetermine the duration and when paleoseismic and paleogeodetic records will be preserved in coastal regions. The most direct, reliable way to chronicle the history of past subduction zone earthquakes is through coastal stratigraphic sequences that preserve abrupt and gradual relative sea level changes caused by great subduction earthquake cycles. Specifically, paleoseismic timing and paleo geodetic determination of vertical displacement can be obtained through the application of litho-, bio- and chronostratigraphic analyses of selected coastal stratigraphic sequences. Such stratigraphic sequences are only preserved under a specific set of conditions wherein sea level rise, crustal loading, local crustal thickness and imposed strain accumulation and release from megathrust and upper plate faults and folds collectively conspire to provide a long-term, gradual relative sea level rise over millen...