Evidence of high sea level during the mid- Holocene on the southwest coast of Sri Lanka

A well-developed extensive buried coral reef at Akurala, north of Hikkaduwa, is deposited on a low plateau of decomposed crystalline rocks of Precambrian age. Radiocarbon age datings from three coral quarries in the area reveal that the branching and massive corals, in a position ofgrowth, were gradually deposited between 6, 110 ± 80 B.P. and 5,500 ± 80 B.P. in a bay or a lagoon as isolated patches, and their heights vary from 1.4m to 3.9m below mean sea level (MSL). Four radiocarbon age datings of emerged coral reef patches at Akurala and Akurala- Telwatte vary from 6,170 ± 70 B.P. to 5,350 ± 80 B.P. and at levels between 10cm and 70cm above MSL respectively. The present living corals in front of the southwest coast thrive from mean low water spring (MLWS) tidal level to 4m in depth in lagoonal reef areas. From the level of pesent living coral it is inferred that sea level was above the present level about 50cm at 6,110 ± 80 B.P. and 1m or more at 5,560 ± 80 B.P. The in situ position and condition of the materials show that they were not accumulated by catastrophic events such as storm waves.