Preliminary Report on Studies of Shore Displacement at the Southern Coast of Kenya

The raised coral reef complex of the Kenyan coast: Tridacna gigas U-series dates and geological implications

“…7H) are found against fossil cliff surfaces (Fig. 3B), sometimes reaching a thickness of 6 m. These flat surfaces have been related by various authors, with different interpretations, to terraces linked to postPliocene sea level stillstands (Caswell, 1953;Hori, 1970;Toyah et al, 1973;Rossi, 1981;Åse, 1978Karanja et al, 1993).…”

“…The elevation above the present sea level of the reef complex increases inland up to the top of the marine terrace which, according to Rossi (1981), reaches 30-35 m near Vipingo, north of Mombasa. Number, elevation and age of the marine terraces found along the Kenyan coast are highly controversial (Caswell, 1953(Caswell, , 1956Battistini, 1969;Hori, 1970;Toyah et al, 1973;Åse, 1978Braithwaite, 1984;Oosterom, 1988;Karanja et al, 1993;Veldkamp and Oosterom, 1994). According to our survey, the Tridacna facies reaches a height of about +15 m, coinciding with a marine terrace surface which forms a typical geomorphologic feature of the coast north and south of Mombasa.…”