HR: 1340h
AN: T13D-0504    [Abstracts]
TI: A Preliminary Study in the Spratly, Southern Part of the South China Sea
AU: * Lee, C
EM: leecs@mail.ntou.edu.tw
AF: Institute of Applied Geosciences, National Taiwan Ocean University, 2 Pei-Ning Road, Keelung, 202 Taiwan
AB: From 20 June to 1 August (a total of 44 days) this year, a group of 8 scientists conducted a preliminary geological and geophysical study from the Taiping reef island, also called as the Ita Abu, owned by Taiwan. Since the Taiping Island is the biggest island (1,300 m in length, 400 m in width) in these some 102 reef islands, atolls, and sand bars in the southern part of the South China Sea. It is also the only island having the ground water and a hospital in a radius of 1,000 km of this tropical reef islands. Before the cruise, we requested the satellite images from the Taiwan-owned FORMOSA satellite in this region. During the survey, we acquired the echo sounding and side scan sonar data in the lagoon in order to give us a first topographical expression of the seafloor and to identify the dredge sites. Inside the wave break reef and beach site, we drilled several series of 30-cm cores, about 30 sites. Outside the wave break, we had a wonderful time to conduct many underwater photography and investigations. All of these efforts are aiming to get a better understanding of early rifting of the South China Sea and the evolution of reef growth in this tropical environment. Since the corals are the doctors of their living ecological system; they record the temperature, salinity, storm events, and El Nino. Our preliminary survey will provide a first glance of the last hundred and thousand years of our climate change. We will continue with our adventures. We also understand the political conflicts in this region. However, the Spratly islands hold the major key to reveal the sciences of the South China Sea, such as the early continental rifting, reef evolution, coral ecosystem, fishery resource and possible energy resource. We intend to open the Taiping Island as an International Marine Science Observatory.
DE: 8100 TECTONOPHYSICS
DE: 8109 Continental tectonics: extensional (0905)
SC: Tectonophysics [T]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005