Researching Environmental Change in Singapore (completed)

Michael Ian Bird, Chang Chew Hung, Teh Tiong Sa
Email: chewhung.chang@nie.edu.sg

Michael Bird, Tiong Sa Teh and Chew Hung Chang from Humanities and Social Studies Education are researching the detailed history of sea-level rise in the Singapore area since the end of the last ice age. With funding from the Academic Research Fund (AcRF), and with the co-operation of the Land Transport Authority, the National Parks Board and National Museum they are collecting sediment samples from excavations that are currently underway for the new MRT lines in the CBD and in Paya Lebar, as from remaining modern mangrove areas around the Singapore coast. These samples, which represent ancient mangrove deposits up to 10,000 years old and now up to 7 metres below modern sea-level are being radiocarbon–dated to provide a precise sea-level history for Singapore. This record can ultimately help in the prediction of current and future changes in sea-level in the Singapore region that are the result of the human-induced greenhouse effect as well as shed new light on the rapidly changing geography of Sundaland after the lend of the last ice-age.

Source of funding: AcRF