Sunda epicontinental shelf and Quaternary glacial-interglacial sea level variation and their implications to the regional and global environmental change

Sunda Epicontinental Shelf occupies a large area between Asia and Indonesian Maritime Continent. This shallow shelf developed soon as stability of this area since Pliocene was achieved. Sedimentation and erosion started, following sea level variation of Milankovitch cycle that changed this area to, partly to entirely become a low lying open land. These changes imply a difference height of about 135 m sea level. Consequence of this changes from shallow sea during interglacial to the exposed low land during glacial period is producing different land cover that might influence to the surrounding area. As the large land surface, this area should be covered by low land tropical forest, savanna to wet coastal plain. This large low-lying land belongs an important river drainage system of South East Asia in the north (Gulf of Thailand) and another system that curved from Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Bangka-Belitung and Kalimantan, named as Palaeo Sunda River. The total area of this land is about 1 million km², this must bring consequences to the environmental condition. This change belongs to the global change on which the signal may be sent to a distance, then is preserved as geological formation. Being large and flat land, it has a long and winding river valley so this land influences the life of biota as fauna and flora but also human being that may live or just move on the passing through around East Asia. Global sea level changes through time which is then followed by the change of the area of land or water have indeed influenced the hydrology and carbon cycle balance. Through studying the stratigraphy and geology dynamic, based on seismic images and core samples from drilling work, one can be obtained, the better understanding the environmental change and its impact to the regional but could be global scale.