Net Late Holocene emergence despite earthquake-induced submergence, south-central Chile

Intertidal deposits show net Late Holocene emergence at three sites along the Pacific coast near Maulli??n and Carelmapu, Chile (latitude 41.6-41.7??S.). The maximum amount of net emergence is ca. 1 m in the past 1500 years and ca. 2 1 2 m in the past 4000 years. Emergence probably would have prevailed at a fourth site near Maulli??n were the site not underlain by easily compacted deposits; this site shows slight (< 1 m) net submergence in the past 3000 years. Despite net emergence, all four sites underwent 1-2 m of submergence from tectonic subsidence during a magnitude-9.5 earthquake in 1960, and two of the sites show evidence for earlier submergence events of Late Holocene age. The net emergence is probably due to some combination of cyclic uplift from elastic strain accumulation between earthquakes and monotonic uplift from postglacial loading of the Pacific Ocean floor. The small amount of the net emergence shows that neotectonics has had little net impact on Holocene relative sea level in part of the focal region of the largest earthquake recorded by seismograph. ?? 1992.