What Insights Can the Holocene Provide on Previous Interglacial Sea Levels?
Abstract
The current Holocene interglacial (the past 11.7 kyrs to present) provides the most expansive and highly resolved geological archives of relative sea level (RSL) in comparison to previous interglacials. The abundance of RSL data and preservation of near-field glacial deposits has contributed to the development of a relatively well-constrained Holocene ice-sheet history. The resolution of data during the Holocene also enables RSL reconstructions from this period to constrain local- to regional-scale processes. The dominant process driving spatial variability during the Holocene is glacial-isostatic adjustment (GIA), thus high-quality Holocene RSL data provides important constraints for Earth model parameters representing the viscosity structure of the planetary interior and on the evolution of ice sheets through the deglaciation process. The insights derived from the fit of GIA models to Holocene data can in principle then be applied to understand ice sheet evolution during previous interglacial periods. Here we present collocated Holocene-Last Interglacial (LIG) RSL records from the Caribbean and Bermuda from coral, mangrove and freshwater peat, beach deposits, and intertidal-subtidal transitions. We underscore the uncertainties that processes acting over different spatial and temporal scales contribute to sea-level equivalent estimates derived from RSL records. In addition, we explore the impact that Earth model parameters have on both Holocene and LIG timescales and how they may influence the interpretation of past ice sheet behaviour.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2018
- Bibcode:
- 2018AGUFM.G43B0717K
- Keywords:
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- 0726 Ice sheets;
- CRYOSPHEREDE: 1243 Space geodetic surveys;
- GEODESY AND GRAVITYDE: 1641 Sea level change;
- GLOBAL CHANGEDE: 4928 Global climate models;
- PALEOCEANOGRAPHY