Coastal dune luminescence chronologies indicating a mid-Holocene highstand along the east coast of the Yellow Sea

Previous studies of Holocene sea-level change along the Yellow Sea coastline present conflicting reconstructions, and such investigations have invariably used peat as well as other biological markers as paleo-indicators of relative sea level. An alternative proxy indicator of sea-level change is employed in this study by applying the luminescence dating technique on quartz sands retrieved from relict foredune structures on a tectonically stable section of the west coast of Korea. The chronologies obtained are consistent with a relative sea level that was very close to or higher than present during the period ca. 6-5 ka. Such ages do not accord with a sea level that rose continuously throughout the Holocene, as is suggested by some earlier studies. The mid-Holocene highstand identified in this study indicates that sea-level change along the Yellow Sea shoreline is congruous with sea-level curves reported from other far-field sites at which crustal hydroisostatic adjustment presumably led to the transient regression of coastlines during the late Holocene.