Relevance For Other Research Areas
Marine terraces play an important role in the research on tectonics and earthquakes. They may show patterns and rates of tectonic uplift and thus may be used to estimate the tectonic activity in a certain region. In some cases the exposed secondary landforms can be correlated with known seismic events such as the 1855 Wairarapa earthquake on the Wairarapa Fault near Wellington, New Zealand which produced a 2.7 m uplift. This figure can be estimated from the vertical offset between raised shorelines in the area.
Furthermore with the knowledge of eustatic sea level fluctuations the speed of isostatic uplift can be estimated and eventually the change of relative sea levels for certain regions can be reconstructed. Thus marine terraces also provide information for the research on climate change and trends in future sea level changes.
When analyzing the morphology of marine terraces it must be considered, that both eustasy and isostasy can have an influence on the formation process. This way can be assessed, whether there were changes in sea level or whether tectonic activities took place.
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