中文摘要：

用电感耦合等离子体质谱仪（ICP-MS）测定了海南岛东部龙湾滨珊瑚1981-1996年稀土元素（rare earth elements，REE）的年际含量。结果表明龙湾珊瑚的REE元素含量呈现明显的年际下降趋势。线性回归显示，在年际的分辨率下，龙湾珊瑚REE同海平面呈显著的负相关关系，相关系数达到-0．5～-0．8。龙湾珊瑚REE含量与降雨量、径流量、海表温度（SST）以及珊瑚自身的生长率和钙化率的相关性不显著。分析表明，当海平面快速上升时，河口附近珊瑚受到来自河流的陆源物质影响减弱，海平面上升是控制该区域珊瑚REE含量年际变化的主导因素。南海是西太平洋最大的半封闭边缘海，通过珊瑚的REE记录，有利于开展海平面的重建工作，增进我们对过去数百年来海平面的变化序列以及全新世时期亚轨道尺度海平面变化的幅度、周期以及变化机制的理解。

英文摘要：

A high resolution sequence of rare earth elements （REE） from 1981 to 1996 in Porites Lutea from the Longwan Bay of Hainan Island in the northern South China Sea has been established using ICP-MS technique. After normalized with the Post-Archean average Australian Sedimentary rock （PAAS）, it is found that the distribution pattern of REE in the coral is similar to that in the sea water, with negative Ce anomaly and heavy REE enrichment. The most striking feature of the REE record is that the REE contents decreased from 1981 to 1996, a period during which the local sea level rose. The REE contents in the coral are significantly negatively correlated with sea level, with the correlation coefficients between --0.5 and --0.8, but insignificantly correlated with rainfall, runoff, SST, or any vital effects of the coral （e. g. growth rate and calcification rate）. One simple interpretation is that, when the sea level rapidly rose and a great amount of seawater intruded the bay, the terrestrial influence on the REEs in the coral was reduced. The results suggest that sea level rise can reduce the influence of fresh water on the coral which lives 5 m below the sea surface, and is a dominant factor for the interannual variability of REEs in the coral in this area. Therefore, the application of coral REEs as a proxy of historical sea level changes in the northern South China Sea may enhance the understanding of sea level changes in the last several hundred years, especially since the industrial revolution, and of the suborbital sea level change in the Holocene.