NEGATIVE EVIDENCE FOR A MID-HOLOCENE HIGH SEA-LEVEL ALONG THE COASTAL-PLAIN OF THE GREAT BARRIER REEF PROVINCE

New data are presented from the north Queensland coastal plain which indicate that present Holocene sea level was reached about 6000 years B.P. and has not deviated significantly since then. Together with negative geomorphic evidence for higher sea levels along the coastal plain, this implies that previous reports of evidence for higher stands may have resulted from misinterpretation of field evidence. Close agreement with sealevel data from central Queensland and New South Wales indicates that eastern Australia has followed a common relative sea-level history and has been an area of relative tectonic stability. © 1979.