bipolar seesaw control on last interglacial sea level our current understanding of ocean atmosphere cryosphere interactions at ice age terminations relies largely on assessments of the most recent last glacial interglacial transition1 2 3 termination i t i but the extent to which t i is representative of previous terminations remains unclear testing the consistency of termination processes requires comparison of time series of critical climate parameters with detailed absolute and relative age control however such age control has been lacking for even the penultimate glacial termination t ii which culminated in a sea level highstand during the last interglacial period that was several metres above present4 here we show that heinrich stadial 11 hs11 a prominent north atlantic cold episode5 6 occurred between 135 1 and 130 2 thousand years ago and was linked with rapid sea level rise during t ii our conclusions are based on new and existing6 7 8 9 data for t ii and the last interglacial that we collate onto a single radiometrically constrained chronology the hs11 cold episode5 6 punctuated t ii and coincided directly with a major deglacial meltwater pulse which predominantly entered the north atlantic ocean and accounted for about 70 per cent of the glacial interglacial sea level rise8 9 we conclude that possibly in response to stronger insolation and co2 forcing earlier in t ii the relationship between climate and ice volume changes differed fundamentally from that of t i in t i the major sea level rise clearly post dates3 10 11 heinrich stadial 1 we also find that hs11 coincided with sustained antarctic warming probably through a bipolar seesaw temperature response12 and propose that this heat gain at high southern latitudes promoted antarctic ice sheet melting that fuelled the last interglacial sea level peak

aminostratigraphy of quaternary shorelines in the mediterranean basin the age and correlation of shorelines around the mediterranean basin have been addressed by analyzing the extent of isoleucine epimerization aile ile ratio in protein preserved in molluscan fossils collected from raised marine deposits the taxodont genera glycymeris and arca were selected as the primary taxa for this study because of their simple shell structure reproducible aile ile ratios and ubiquitous occurrence direct comparison of aile ile ratios in associated mollusks allows correlation of disjunct marine deposits and relative dating of sequential marine units in nearby areas that have similar thermal histories the thermal gradient across the mediterranean basin is however sufficiently high that shells from isochronous shorelines have significantly higher ratios at warmer than at cooler localities absolute dating primarily u series dates on corals directly associated with molluscan samples provides an independent calibration of the amino acid data and compensates for dissimilar thermal histories aile ile ratios in shells from 46 marine units cluster into 5 discrete groups c e f g and k that are related to positive sea level events interglacials interstadials associated with odd numbered deep sea isotopic stages the most complete sequences are in southern italy where group c ratios in glycymeris that average 0 30 are associated with the neotyrrhenian a post last interglacial late stage 5 high sea level event group e ratios 0 38 are associated with classical eutyrrhenian deposits from which four u series coral dates 126 7 ka substantiate the correlation to isotope substage 5e group f ratios 0 50 are associated with u series coral and mollusk dates between 200 and 300 ka the deposits are tentatively correlated with stage 7 deposits that have group g ratios 0 58 are correlated with stage 9 shells from lower pleistocene marine deposits that have ratios between 1 0 and 1 2 group k constrain the ages of the younger groups an exponential decrease in the epimerization rate inhibits resolution of the older events aile ile ratios in last interglacial deposits are similar in the northern and central region of the study area but increase sharply in southern sicily north africa and crete similar to the modern thermal gradient a lacuna between group g and group k is similar to gaps identified in california and alaska suggesting generally lower interglacial sea levels between stage 11 and sometime before the brunhes matuyama boundary

near field sea level variability in northwest europe and ice sheet stability during the last interglacial global sea level during the last interglacial lig marine isotope sub stage 5e peaked between c 5 5 and 9 m above present implying significant melt from greenland and antarctica relative sea level rsl observations from several far and intermediate field sites suggest abrupt fluctuations or jumps in rsl during the lig highstand that require one or more episodes of ice sheet collapse and regrowth such events should be manifest as unique sea level fingerprints recorded in far intermediate and near field sites depending on the source s of ice mass change involved to date though no coherent evidence of such fluctuations has been reported from near field rsl studies in northwest europe this is an important problem because rsl fluctuations during the lig are portrayed as warning signs for how polar ice sheets may behave in a future warmer than present world here we review the evidence for rsl change during the lig using stratigraphic data from the best resolved highstand records that exist in the near field of northwest europe from a range of settings that include lagoonal shallow marine tidal flat salt marsh and brackish water fluviatile environments consideration of previously published stratigraphic records from two sites in the eemian coastal marine embayment that existed in the central netherlands yields no clear indications for abrupt rsl change during the attainment of the near field highstand nor do we find any such indications common to other records from countries bordering the north sea the baltic sea and the white sea two modelling experiments that explore the global signal of hypothetical sea level oscillations caused by partial collapse and regrowth of either the greenland or antarctic lig ice sheet show that the north sea region is relatively insensitive to mass changes sourced from greenland but should clearly register events with an antarctic origin especially those that occur late in the lig the lack of evidence for abrupt sea level fluctuations at this time in northwest europe concurs with a lack of clear near field evidence for ice sheet collapse

th u dating of strombus bubonius bearing marine terraces in southeastern spain single dates obtained on mollusk shells by the u series nuclides method are highly unreliable primarily because of the mobility of uranium isotopes however in several cases a statistical approach was demonstrated to yield coherent chronologies in both continental and marine environments the authors report on 34 new th and u isotope measurements on strombus bubonius and glycymeris glycymeris fossils from raised marine terraces in the almeria area southeastern spain the results yield a coherent chronology that indicates the presence of the warm water s bubonius fauna in the mediterranean basin reconsideration of the tyrrhenian stratigraphy based on the presence of s bubonius is thus required

searching for eustasy in deglacial sea level histories abstract perturbations to the earth s gravity field and solid surface associated with glacial isostatic adjustment gia cause the total observable sea level change to depart from the eustatic curve which is defined as a spatially uniform height shift of the ocean surface to accommodate any mass gained lost from grounded ice in this study we apply a state of the art model of gia induced sea level change to quantify the magnitude and spatial form of this departure at the global scale for a range of model parameters with an aim to identify regions that are well suited to obtain accurate and precise estimates of eustatic sea level and therefore past grounded ice volume in general our results indicate that eustatic sea level is not a directly measurable quantity and so must be estimated by subtracting a model derived estimate of non eustatic contributions from observations in this regard we use our results to isolate regions where this procedure can be applied with optimal accuracy and precision that is where 1 the gia predictions are relatively insensitive to plausible ranges in input parameters and 2 where the non eustatic contribution is small i e the predicted sea level closely approximates the eustatic value we present maps that can be employed by the field community to identify areas where sea level reconstructions would be well suited to arrive at robust estimates of eustatic sea level note that sea level changes associated with tectonic motion and changes in ocean water temperature salinity which also lead to departures from eustasy are not considered in this analysis

new perspectives on coastal landscape reconstruction during the late quaternary a test case from central israel the stratigraphic architecture of coastal plains is determined by the interactions between local e g fluvial processes and topography regional e g climate and global e g sea level forcing factors primarily during the late quaternary period detailed stratigraphic and sedimentological analyses of boreholes cored between coastal ridges in the lowlands coupled with optically stimulated luminescence osl dating and integrated with existing onshore and offshore databases has enabled a 4 d reconstruction of the evolution of the coast of israel during the last glacial interglacial cycle this model revealed that nilotic sourced littoral sand intermittently transported inland by wind has either been lithified into aeolianite or pedogenized into orange brown palaeosol from about 100 ka to 8 ka dark silty clay wetlands were deposited between the aeolian coastal ridges adjacent to streams which cut the israeli coastal plain and flow westward from the last glacial maximum until the onset of the holocene these units are topped by beach and aeolian quartz sand dated to 6 6 0 1 ka diachronous thicknesses and lithological dissimilarities were identified between the sections studied and previous reports on adjacent coastal aeolianite ridges streams were found to be a dominant control on the stratigraphical composition and related facies architecture due to fluvial induced erosion consequently the relief variations between the lowland and cliff controlled aeolian pedogenesis as well as alluvial processes from about 80 to 5 ka climate mainly influenced by precipitation and dust input induced pedogenic processes while sea level lowstand during the last glacial maximum is shown to have hindered sediment deposition in the shallow offshore which in turn affected aeolian transport reducing sediment accumulation on the palaeo coastal plain the palaeoenvironmental model presented in the current study serves as an example for understanding the evolution of similar low latitude siliciclastic rich low gradient shelf coastal areas during the last glacial interglacial cycle furthermore it demonstrates the influence of local to global forcing factors on these environments

evidence for sea level oscillations by the characteristic thickness of marine deposits from raised terraces of southern calabria italy abstract clastic deposits associated with marine terraces can provide evidence for detecting eustatic oscillations the method is based on the characteristic thickness ct of beach formations which are generally deposited on a wave cut platform between the breakpoint and the swash upper limit on any present day coast ct reflects equilibrium related to current shore processes with a constant sea level it represents a local threshold t cr as when sea level rises ct increases by a value equal to the rise amplitude this amount is reduced in uplifted areas by the magnitude of coeval uplifting the amplitude of sea level variations detected by ct can be calculated knowing ct t cr uplift rate and the duration of an oscillation the method is applied to the clastic deposits of 23 marine terraces stepped between 52 and 172 m and shaped over the mis 5 mis 4 period along the calabria coast of the messina strait not only the great orbital oscillations mis 5 5 mis 5 3 mis 5 1 and mis 3 are recorded but also several rapid and low amplitude events are detected into each substage the most surprising result is the ten small oscillations during mis 5 5 the duration of which ranges between 2 ka and less than 1 ka while sea level oscillates from 0 5 to 12 m in amplitude by calculating initial relative sea level highstands and also lowstands preceding them detailed eustatic oscillations of the curve are drawn

tims u series dating and stable isotopes of the last interglacial event in papua new guinea the extensive flight of uplifted reef terraces which occurs along the vitiaz strait on the northern flank of the huon peninsula in png papua new guinea contains a particularly good record of sea level changes in the last 250 ky the huon terraces were the target of an international expedition which took place in july august 1988 in particular we searched for suitable samples for u series dating in a reef complex designated as vii which is correlated with the last interglacial episode and high sea level stand this complex is composed of a barrier reef viib a lagoon and a fringing reef viia twelve corals from these terraces and two corals from the older reef complex viii were selected for analysis the petrography oxygen and carbon isotope compositions and magnesium and strontium concentrations were determined along with the concentrations and isotopic compositions of uranium and thorium 230 th 234 u ages of the corals with 99 aragonite having primary textures and which show u sr ratios around 0 4 10 3 and initial 234 u values close to that of present seawater appear to be reliable the most reliable ages from complex vii corals fall in two tight groups centered at 118 ky and 134 ky corals with 234 u t values higher than 160 and u sr ratios substantially lower than seawater are assumed to have undergone diagenetic alteration which appears to be common in this area the simplest model for sea level height for terrace vii is a continuous rise between 134 and 118 ky alternatively there may have been two periods of rapid sea level rise in contrast in the bahamas there is evidence that sea level remained rather constant over the time interval 132 to 120 ky the absence of ages between 132 and 120 ky in png could be the result of changes in the local tectonic uplift rates during that time or erosion that disrupted the continuous record in any event we find no basis for accepting a single brief time for the age of the last interglacial and applying this age as a precise chronometer for worldwide correlation or as a test of climatic models the older ages reported here precede the milankovitch solar insolation peak at 128 ky and the younger ages are 10 ky after this peak if the present high precision data are correct then it will be necessary to reassess the validity of the milankovitch theory of climatic changes the fundamental issue which must now be resolved is a means of identifying coral samples that have not been disturbed by diagenetic processes

record of mis 5 sea level highstands based on u th dated coral terraces of haiti abstract new geomorphologic investigations and new u th series dates from haiti northwestern peninsula confirm the age of coral reef terraces assigned to mis 5 5 130 ka mis 5 3 107 ka and mis 5 1 83 ka sea level peaks they also provide evidence for a second high sea level occurring some thousand years before 118 ka and indicate a second mis 5 1 sea level stand at about 76 ka these results are in agreement with the raised terraces of barbados although the staircase of haiti consists of four steps compared to eight the haitian sequence can be compared with the maximal number of distinct mis 5 sea level highstands recorded in the world from coral reef tracts and their relative height above or below present sea level three mis 5 5 sea level changes have been recognized with sea level oscillating above or near the present level until 122 ka only dropping then rising to 11 m below present sea level at 120 ka three high frequency sea level oscillations occurred during mis 5 3 and a fourth during mis 5 3 5 2 two or three events may have occurred during mis 5 l according to whether the 73 ka event is considered to belong to mis 5 1

holocene sea level changes along the mediterranean coast of israel based on archaeological observations and numerical model local sea level curves reflect global eustatic changes regional isostatic adjustments of the crust to changing ice and ocean volumes and tectonically controlled crustal movements in this study we evaluate the relative contribution of each of these factors to the holocene sea level curve of the mediterranean coast of israel we use archaeological data as constraints on palaeo sea levels and we then compare the observational limits with isostatic models for sea level change across the region the isostatic model includes the contribution arising from the relative minor increase in ocean volumes for the past 6000 years due to residual melting of ice sheets the effect of the changing shape of the ocean basin the time dependence of shorelines as sealevel changes and the changing surface area occupied by ice sheets differences if significant between the observed and predicted change are interpreted as being of tectonic origin the archaeological observations and the model sea level curve along the mediterranean coast of israel were found to be generally consistent and any discrepancies lie within the uncertainties of both values our model predicted that 8000 years ago sea level at the israel coast was at about 213 5 2 m whereas the archaeological data place it at 216 5 1 m by 7000 bp the predicted level has risen to about 27 1 m consistent with the archaeological evidences according to both observations and predictions sea level was still lower than 2 3t o24 5 m at 6000 bp and remained below its present level until about 3000 2000 bp the comparison between the model sea level curve and the archaeological observations also enable to conclude that the average rate of vertical tectonic movement for the last 8000 years at the carmel coast israel has been less than 0 2 mm year q 2001 elsevier science b v all rights reserved

late quaternary uplift of the troodos ophiolite cyprus uranium series dating of pleistocene coral in an attempt to constrain the timing and mode of tectonic uplift of the classic troodos ophiolite colonial corals were collected from quaternary littoral raised terraces in coastal southern cyprus and dated using the uranium series disequilibrium method a total of 28 samples of cladocora caespitosa were collected at five localities from the 8 11 m high and 3 m high marine terraces the corals yield systematic ages of 185 192 ka ka 103 yr and 116 130 ka for the 8 11 m and 3 m terraces respectively when correlated with the global oxygen isotope stages the results suggest that southern cyprus was uplifted by 18 m during the past 185 192 ka as a single tectonic entity of this uplift 13 m took place between 130 and 185 ka at 24 cm ka and a maximum of 6 m of uplift at 5 cm ka took place over the past 116 ka but with some evidence of coastal subsidence in more recent time an exception the extreme southeast of cyprus cape greco was perhaps uplifted faster during the past 141 ka at a rate of 12 cm ka

ice sheet collapse following a prolonged period of stable sea level during the last interglacial sea level during the last interglacial period reached a peak of between 5 and 9 m above the present day level a detailed reconstruction of sea level and isostatic rebound from western australia indicates a prolonged period of sea level stability at 3 4 m above present followed by an abrupt sea level rise of 5 6 m

rubidium isotopic composition of the earth meteorites and the moon evidence for the origin of volatile loss during planetary accretion abstract understanding the origin of volatile element variations in the inner solar system has long been a goal of cosmochemistry but many early studies searching for the fingerprint of volatile loss using stable isotope systems failed to find any resolvable variations an improved method for the chemical purification of rb for high precision isotope ratio measurements by multi collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry this method has been used to measure the rb isotopic composition for a suite of planetary materials including carbonaceous ordinary and enstatite chondrites as well as achondrites eucrite angrite terrestrial igneous rocks basalt andesite granite and apollo lunar samples mare basalts alkali suite volatile depleted bodies e g hed parent body thermally metamorphosed meteorites are enriched in the heavy isotope of rb by up to several per mil compared to chondrites suggesting volatile loss by evaporation at the surface of planetesimals in addition the moon is isotopically distinct from the moon in rb the variations in rb isotope compositions in the volatile poor samples are attributed to volatile loss from planetesimals during accretion this suggests that either the rb and other volatile elements were lost during or following the giant impact or by evaporation earlier during the accretion history of theia

coastal response to climate change mediterranean shorelines during the last interglacial mis 5 abstract the response of shorelines to climate change is controlled by fall and rise of the sea level and by the alteration of the coastal environment due to changing fluvial discharge and biological activity in the mediterranean this response is complicated by the geographic proximity of the north atlantic and the african monsoon climate systems by a time and space specific interaction of eustatic and water load components of sea level and by the mid latitudinal time lag between orbital forcing and terrestrial response here six mediterranean coastal records are presented which contribute to our understanding of how mid latitudinal coasts respond to orbital forcing the sediment sequences show sharp switches between siliciclastic and carbonate dominated nearshore environments where carbonate rich sediments are composed of oolitic grainstones from modern analogues it is deduced that the oolitic sediments represent a period of relatively high annual sea surface temperature and lack of fluvial discharge the warm arid period was recorded at 114 ka on the southeast iberian coast at 113 ka on the levant coast at 110 ka on the coast west of the nile delta and at 83 ka on the north saharan coast it lasted 10 20 ka in east levant coast and west iberian coast and lasted 40 ka or more in the central south of the east mediterranean timing and duration of the coastal proxy allow inferring instantaneous and dominant response to external forcing in the east and west and delayed and prolonged response due to dominant regional forcing in the centre of the east mediterranean a 9 m eustatic sea level highstand during mis 5e is suggested with a start of the subsequent sea level fall at 118 ka while evidence for multiple mis 5e highstand and a highstand during mis 5a remain elusive

sea level and climate changes during ois 5e in the western mediterranean palaeontological geomorphological and sedimentological data supported by isotopic dating on oxygen isotopic stage ois 5e deposits from the spanish mediterranean coast are interpreted with the aim of reconstructing climatic instability in the northern hemisphere data point to marked climatic instability during the last interglacial ois 5e with a change in meteorological conditions and consequently in the sedimentary environment the oolitic facies generated during the first part of ois 5e ca 135 kyr shift into reddish conglomeratic facies during the second part ca 117 kyr sea surface temperature sst and salinity are interpreted mainly on the basis of warm senegalese fauna which show chronological and spatial differential distribution throughout the western mediterranean present hydrological and meteorological conditions are used also as modern analogues to reconstruct climatic variability throughout the last interglacial and this variability is interpreted within the wider framework of the north atlantic record all the available data indicate an increase in storminess induced by an increase in the influence of northwesterlies a slight drop of sst in the northern western mediterranean and an important change in meteorological conditions at the end of ois 5e 117 kyr these changes correlate well with the decrease in summer insolation and with the climatic instability recorded in north atlantic high latitudes

ancient coastal wells of caesarea maritima israel an indicator for relative sea level changes during the last 2000 years abstract during the detailed excavations of ancient caesarea israel east mediterranean 64 coastal water wells have been examined that date from the early roman period with the oldest occurring in the 1st century ad up to the end of the crusader period mid 13th century ad the depths of these coastal water wells establish the position of the ancient water table and therefore the position of sea level for the first century ad up to 1300 ad the connection between the coastal water table and changes in sea level has been established from modern observations in several wells on time scales of days and months and this is used to reconstruct sea level during historical time the results indicate that during the byzantine period sea level at caesarea was higher by about 30 cm than today the late moslem and crusader data shows greater fluctuations but the data sets are also much smaller than for the earlier periods the consistency of the data indicates that the near coastal well data from caesarea provides a reliable indicator of sea level change with an accuracy of about 10 15 cm these results are consistent with observations for earlier periods and with comparisons to model predicted glacio hydro isostatic sea level change indicate that ocean volumes have been constant for much of the past 2000 years the well data is also consistent with an absence of significant vertical tectonic movement of the coast at caesarea over about 2000 years

what can a sessile mollusk tell about neotectonics article i nfo dendropoma petraeum are fixed vermitids mollusk that colonize and construct abrasion platform rims along rocky shorelines these endemic mollusks are considered good relative sea level indicators in the eastern and the southern mediterranean due to their narrow habitat below the sea surface about 10 cm the observed relative sea level values recorded submerged uplifted or at present mean sea level reflect a superposition of eustatic isostatic tectonic and possibly local sedimentary instabilities the present study examines fossil dendropoma samples gathered along the levant coast from northern israel to eastern turkey conventional radiocarbon dates from turkey syria and partly in lebanon and 14 c accelerator mass spectrometer ams from lebanon and israel yields dendropoma ages ranging through late holocene a numerical model is used for calculating the change in sea level through the holocene as a function of glacio hydrology and isostasy of the eastern mediterranean space time dependent subtractions of the model values are used to eliminate the eustatic component of the relative sea level in order to obtain the tectonic component results show a general northward increase in tectonic uplift of the levantine coast with different rates in different tectonic segments this differential uplift corresponds well to the major tectonic segments comprising the levantine continental margin since the pleistocene from the carmel fault to the east anatolian fault hence these segments were still active during the last thousands years and even during the last hundreds years the general trend of northward increase in vertical displacement is predominantly dictated by the convergence between the sinai and arabian plates with anatolia and eurasia across the cyprus arc and zagros belt and the secondarily dictated by the northward increase in convergence component across the sinistral dead sea fault plate boundary

u series measurements in tyrrhenian deposits from mallorca further evidence for two last interglacial high sea levels in the balearic islands the campo de tiro type section for the tyrrhenian ecostratigraphic beds of the balearic islands shows four indurated littoral conglomerates and beach rocks unconformably superimposed the lower two units 1 and 2 are separated by a thin layer of reddish continental silts both contain a typical eutyrrhenian fauna whereas a neotyrrhenian fauna characterizes the overlying units 3 and 4 thu measurements by thermal ionisation mass spectrometry on mollusk shells from these deposits yielded ages of 135 ka unit 1 117 ka units 2 and 3 and a scatter of ages around 100 ka unit 4 the stratigraphic relationships and thu data indicate i that uranium was uptaken by mollusks shells but arca sp each time during a relatively short early diagenetic interval before cementation ensured a fair closure of the radioactive system ii two high sea stands characterized the last interglacial isotopic substage 5e of the balearic islands area iii the duration of this episode was 17 ka and iv the change in faunal assemblages and disconformity observed between units 2 and 3 are due to fluctuations in sea level and surface water conditions which occurred during the second high sea level episode of the last interglacial

vertical displacement trends in the aegean coastal zone ne mediterranean during the holocene assessed by geo archaeological data trends in the vertical displacement i e uplift or subsidence of the aegean sea coastal zone have been assessed by comparing observational data with those derived from the predictive glacio hydro isostatic model of lambeck and purcell 2005 for a period spanning from the mesolithic to the late roman times the data base comprises published studies that use both geomorphological with associated biological material and archaeological sea level indicators markers localities demonstrating uplift of high amplitude were detected in front of the hellenic arc antikythira crete rhodes nisyros and in the northeast aegean region thrace whilst areas experiencing tectonic subsidence were mainly observed in the central aegean region which is characterized by an extensional tectonic domain however regional scale tectonic particularities have caused uplift in parts of the west and east coast of central aegean tectonically stable sites can be found in the cyclades plateau however this is due to a bala

mediterranean climate and oceanography and the periodic development of anoxic events sapropels mediterranean sapropels are layers with elevated organic carbon concentrations that contrast with surrounding sediments which are organic poor sapropels occur quasi periodically in sedimentary sequences of the last 13 5 million years and exist both in the eastern and western mediterranean sub basins they have been the subject of extensive study based on records from both short conventional and long ocean drilling program sediment cores and from a wide variety of uplifted marine sediment sequences on the basin margins and islands previous syntheses in the 1990s and 2000s have discussed how the formation of sapropels is commonly ascribed to deep sea anoxia enhanced export productivity or a combination of these effects however a wealth of new evidence and insights has emerged during the past 1 2 decades based on traditional and novel proxy data as well as modelling which has revealed intriguing new aspects and nuances to the reconstructed conditions hence it is timely to present a new synthesis of current understanding of the processes behind the formation of sapropels which have over the past decade also become a matter of commercial interest in sub salt hydrocarbon exploration in this review we present a context of modern mediterranean climate and oceanography followed by an integrated assessment of the growing understanding of climatological and ocean circulation changes that were associated with sapropel deposition we find that sapropels predominantly formed during astronomically timed episodes when climatic and oceanographic conditions and ecological responses broadly preconditioned the basin for sapropel deposition there is strong correspondence with times of monsoon intensification fuelling runoff from north africa into the mediterranean sea while preconditioning due to sea level rise and regional precipitation and runoff may have contributed as well within these broad episodes of surface buoyancy gain and resultant decline in deep water ventilation specific deposition under dysoxic anoxic or even euxinic conditions occurred within a clearly dynamic system that was characterised by complex spatial and depth dependent patterns gradients with distinct temporal variability on at least decadal to centennial millennial timescales in the final section we evaluate the implications of different modes of deep water removal from silled basins to investigate why sapropels are more frequently and often more intensely developed in the eastern mediterranean than in the western mediterranean

late quaternary ice sheet history of northern eurasia the maximum limits of the eurasian ice sheets during four glaciations have been reconstructed 1 the late saalian 140 ka 2 the early weichselian 100 80 ka 3 the middle weichselian 60 50 ka and 4 the late weichselian 25 15 ka the reconstructed ice limits are based on satellite data and aerial photographs combined with geological field investigations in russia and siberia and with marine seismic and sediment core data the barents kara ice sheet got progressively smaller during each glaciation whereas the dimensions of the scandinavian ice sheet increased during the last ice age the barents kara ice sheet attained its maximum size as early as 90 80 000 years ago when the ice front reached far onto the continent a regrowth of the ice sheets occurred during the early middle weichselian culminating about 60 50 000 years ago during the late weichselian the barents kara ice sheet did not reach the mainland east of the kanin peninsula with the exception of the nw fringe of taimyr a numerical ice sheet model forced by global sea level and solar changes was run through the full weichselian glacial cycle the modeling results are roughly compatible with the geological record of ice growth but the model underpredicts the glaciations in the eurasian arctic during the early and middle weichselian one reason for this is that the climate in the eurasian arctic was not as dry then as during the late weichselian glacial maximum

u series and oxygen isotope chronology of the mid pleistocene lake amora dead sea basin abstract this study establishes for the first time the chronology and limnological history of lake amora dead sea basin israel whose deposits the amora formation comprise one of the longest exposed lacustrine records of the pleistocene time the amora formation consists of sequences of laminated primary aragonite and silty detritus ca sulfate minerals halite and clastic units this sedimentary sequence was uplifted and tilted by the rising sedom salt diapir exposing 320 m of sediments on the eastern flanks of mt sedom the arubotaim cave ac section the chronology of the ac section is based on u disequilibrium dating 230th 234u and 234u 238u ages combined with floating 18 o stratigraphy and paleomagnetic constraints the determination of the 230th 234u ages required significant corrections to account for detrital th and u these corrections were performed on individual samples and on suites of samples from several stratigraphic horizons the most reliable corrected ages were used to construct an age elevation model that was further tuned to the oxygen isotope record of east mediterranean foraminifers based on the long term similarity between the sea and lake oxygen isotope archives the combined u series 18 o age elevation model indicates that the exposed amora sequence was deposited between 740 and 70 ka covering seven glacial interglacial cycles marine isotope stages mis 18 to 5 taking the last glacial lake lisan and the holocene dead sea lacustrine systems as analogs of the depositional limnological environment of lake amora the latter oscillated between wet glacial and more arid interglacial conditions represented by sequences of primary evaporites aragonite and gypsum that require enhanced supply of freshwater to the lakes and clastic sediments respectively the lake evolved from a stage of rapid shifts between high and low stand conditions during 740 to 550 ka to a sabkha like environment that existed at the ac site between 550 and 420 ka this stage was terminated by a dry spell represented by massive halite deposition at 420 ka mis12 11 during mis10 6 the lake fluctuated between lower and higher stands reaching its highest stand conditions at the late glacial mis6 after which a significant lake level decline corresponds to the transition to the last interglacial mis5 low stand lake represented by the uppermost part of the formation 18 o values in the primary aragonite range between 6 0 and 1 3 shifting cyclically between glacial and interglacial intervals the lowest 18 o values are observed during interglacial stages and may reflect short and intense humid episodes that intermittently interrupted the overall arid conditions these humid episodes expressed also by enhanced deposition of travertines and speleothems seem to characterize the negev desert and in contrast to the overall dominance of the atlantic mediterranean system of rain patterns in the dead sea basin some humid episodes during interglacials may be traced to southern sources

beach deposits containing middle paleolithic archaeological remains from northern israel abstract beach deposits of the last interglacial maximum mis 5e are common on the mediterranean coasts however only a few of them contain archaeological remains four beach deposits containing paleolithic remains were previously identified on the carmel coast of northern israel which relate to the mis 5e sea level high stand of the last interglacial maximum here we report on a newly identified outcrop of beach deposit containing archaeological remains from rosh haniqra on the northern galilee coast termed the rosh haniqra railway hill section this beach deposit is in the form of a tilted lens 12 5 m long and 1 5 m thick and is composed of seven layers containing limestone pebbles and cobbles crushed and whole marine shells flaked flint implements and a mammalian bone cemented by calcite while the previously known carmel coast beach deposits are embedded above or in kurkar deposits aeolian calcareous cemented quartz sandstone the rosh haniqra railway hill beach deposit lies directly on cretaceous bedrock and is overlain by a 5 m thick layer of kurkar based on the typology of the lithic artifacts and their similarity to other middle and late mousterian flint assemblages found in beach deposits and loamy red soils along the northern israeli coast the rosh haniqra railway hill beach deposit probably dates to the mis 5e high sea stand however its attribution to the earlier mis 7 stage dating to ca 200 ka cannot be entirely discounted future absolute dating of the deposits may clarify this issue

last interglacial sea level high stand deduced from well preserved abrasive notches exposed on the galilee coast of northern israel abstract this study investigates the morphometry and structure of abrasive notches exposed along the tectonically stable micro tidal galilee coast israel south eastern mediterranean since they can serve as past sea level indicators the characteristics of the notches height h vertex d distance of maximum retreat point from cliff face height of retreat point from the floor and roof h f and h r respectively etc were surveyed using lidar and a digital laser rangefinder and elevations were measured using dgps rock resistance was measured by schmidt hammer tests which show that the most developed and best preserved notches were formed within the more resistant host rocks of the cenomanian chalk and the pleistocene aeolianite sandstone the elevations of the abrasive floors of the exposed notches indicated a sea level slightly higher than at present at the beginning of mis5e with an upper limit between 0 5 and 0 75 m the morphometry of the mis5e notches which are larger than modern notches in the study area suggests mechanical erosion by broken waves where an energetic wave dominant sea batters a sheltered coastal cliff two sub units of mis5e the yasaf mb were deposited within the notches a a conglomerate containing the diagnostic fossil strombus bubonius which was found on the notch floor and b a younger bioclastic sandstone sub unit which fills and covers parts of the notches these unique field relationships link the formation of the notches to the beginning of mis5e indicating an erosive phase which parallels large scale mis5e sea level evidence suggesting relatively long stand stills at an elevation of about 1 m the early mis5e erosive phase was followed by a depositional phase during the later stage of mis5e

sea level rise due to polar ice sheet mass loss during past warm periods background although thermal expansion of seawater and melting of mountain glaciers have dominated global mean sea level gmsl rise over the last century mass loss from the greenland and antarctic ice sheets is expected to exceed other contributions to gmsl rise under future warming to better constrain polarice sheetresponse to warmer temperatures we draw on evidence from in terglacial periods in the geologic record that ex perienced warmer polar temperatures and higher gmsls than present coastal records of sea level from these previous warm periods dem onstrate geographic variability because of the influence of several geophysical processes that operate across a range of magnitudes and time scales inferring gmsl and ice volume changes from these reconstructions is nontrivial and generally requires the use of geophysical models advances interdisciplinary studies of geo logic archives have ushered in a new era of deciphering magnitudes rates and sources of sea level rise advances in our understanding of polar ice sheet response to warmer climates have been made through an increase in the number and geographic distribution of sea level reconstructions better ice sheet constraints and the recognition that several geophysical processes cause spatially complex patterns in sea level in particular accounting for glacial isostatic processes helps to decipher spatial variability in coastal sea level records and has reconciled a number of site specific sea level reconstructions for warm periods that have oc curred within the past several hundred thou sand years this enables us to infer that during recent interglacial periods small increases in

freshwater on the route of hominids out of africa revealed by u th in red sea corals a fundamental issue in the evolution of human culture concerns the route and conditions of anatomically modern hominids during the migration out of africa a particular question is how could anatomically modern hominids cross the hyperarid arabian deserts here we outline the evidence for significant presence of freshwater along the red sea shores during the last interglacial period freshwater caused an extensive recrystallization of coral reefs from aragonite to calcite indicating uplift of the reefs through well developed phreatic freshwater coastal aquifers applying novel open system u th dating methodology to the calcitic corals we dated the freshwater recrystallization to ca 140 ka consistent with other geological lines of evidence placing the migration of anatomically modern hominids out of africa at the onset of the last interglacial

diurnal seasonal and geomagnetic variations of large field aligned ion upflows in the high latitude ionospheric f region a statistical analysis is carried out by using both the european incoherent scatter mainland radar called eiscat in the following and the eiscat svalbard radar esr data to investigate the morphology of large field aligned ion upflows in the high latitude f region ionosphere emphasizing its dependence on geomagnetic activity and latitude by binning data with respect to geomagnetic conditions significant differences are found between quiet and disturbed periods in the morphology of field aligned upflows obtained by eiscat around solar maximum 1 the occurrence frequency on the nightside is more than 3 times higher during disturbed times than during quiet times 2 the starting altitude of upflows lowers from 350 400 km under quiet conditions to 200 250 km under disturbed conditions 3 the magnetic local time mlt distribution of the occurrence frequency of upflows exhibits a dawn dusk asymmetry above 400 km altitude and it favors the dusk sector under quiet conditions but favors the dawn sector under disturbed conditions 4 the disturbed time upflow occurrence frequency exhibits a semiannual variation above 400 km with higher values around equinoxes esr observations during the rising phase of the solar cycle reveal some preliminary features of upflows in comparison to eiscat observations 1 the occurrence frequency of upflows on the dayside becomes significantly noticeable at about 200 km altitude which is lower than that at eiscat 2 the upflow occurrence frequency above 400 km exhibits an obvious mlt distribution with higher values during 0400 1500 mlt in contrast to 1800 0200 mlt at eiscat 3 the upflow occurrence frequency above esr is higher than that above eiscat during 0700 1500 mlt but is lower during 2000 0200 mlt possible clues on the driving mechanisms of upflows are drawn from these observations

timing of the last interglacial high sea level on the seychelles islands indian ocean abstract corals from the seychelles islands indian ocean occur mainly as small coralline algae vermetid remnants found in cavities adhering to the rock surface and they rarely attain more than 2 m 2 in area samples of goniastrea and porites from elevations between 1 7 and 6 m above present mean sea level were dated by tims 238 u 234 u 230 th techniques the ages from well preserved corals lie between 131 000 and 122 000 yr b p in agreement with most other observations of the last interglacial sea level field evidence and dating from high marine limestones from two sections at la digue island indicate a period of coral buildup until 131 000 yr b p followed by a drop in sea level between 131 000 and 122 000 yr b p

millennial submillennial scale sea level fluctuations in western mediterranean during the second highstand of mis 5e abstract thispaperinvestigatesaseriesofsmall scale short lived uctuationsofsealevelregisteredinaprogradingbarrierspit thatgrew during the mis 5e this interglacial includes threehighstands zazoet al 2003 andwe focus on the second highstand of assumed duration 10 2 ka given that ueth ages do not providemoreaccuratedata geometryand3darchitectureofbeachfacies andthin sectionpetrographywereusedto investigate eight exposed of apping subunits separated by seven conspicuous erosion surfaces allinterpreted as the result of repeated small scale uctuations of sea level each subunit records a relatively rapid rise of sea level that generated a gravelly shoreface with algalbioherms and a sandy uppermost shoreface and foreshore where most sand accumulated a secondrange of still smaller scaled oscillations of sea level has been deduced in this phase of sea level uctu ation from lateral and vertical shifts of the foreshore plunge step uppermost shoreface facies eventually progradation with gently falling sea level took place and foreshore deposits underwentsuccessive vadose cementation and subaerial dissolution owing to relatively prolonged exposure laterrecovery of sea level re established the highstand with sea level at approximately the same elevation and there began deposition of a new subunit the minimum sea level variation fall and subsequent rise required to generate the observed features is 4 m the time span available for the whole succession ofevents and comparison with the holocene prograding beach ridge complex in the nearby roquetas almeria were used to calculate the periodicity of events a millennial suborbital time scale is suggestedfor uctuations separating subunits and a decadal scale for the minor oscillations inside each subunit 2010 elsevier ltd all rights reserved

raised marine sequences of lanzarote and fuerteventura revisited a reappraisal of relative sea level changes and vertical movements in the eastern canary islands during the quaternary abstract systematic mapping and morphosedimentary analysis of fuerteventura and lanzarote islands supported by laboratory techniques u series mostly by tims 14c analysis and allo isoleucine measurements on biogenic carbonates from raised marine deposits paleomagnetic and a few k ar measurements on volcanic formations related to marine deposits provide a basis for constraining the age of late cainozoic marine units the most complete sequences of raised marine terraces are found at similar elevations in both islands they include up to 12 marine terraces episodes at elevations between 0 m and 70 m above mean sea level asl at least six terraces should be of quaternary age and more recent than 1 2 myr throughout the whole marine sequence with the exception of the holocene terrace the warm fauna assemblage is characterized by the presence of ostrea virleti nerita emiliana and strombus s cf coronatus s cf bubonius however there is a major change highlighted by the disappearance of the first two species below the 8 10 m terrace that could possibly correspond to mis 11 k ar measurements allow an estimate for mean uplift rate of 1 7 cm ka during the last million years the present elevation of the last interglacial deposits about 1 and 2 m asl shows discontinuous vertical movements with possibly a reverse trend since mis 9 in eastern canary islands

an expanded ostracod based conductivity transfer function for climate reconstruction in the levant abstract we present the first modern calibration dataset linking ostracod assemblage composition to water chemistry and other site specific variables in the hydrologically and geopolitically sensitive southern levant region a total of 42 ostracod taxa were recorded from the 178 sampled sites in israel and jordan ilyocypris spp heterocypris salina and cypridopsis vidua are the most abundant taxa species strictly confined to freshwater conditions are prionocypris zenkeri gomphocythere ortali and prionocypris olivaceus in contrast h salina bradleytriebella lineata and cyprideis torosa show high frequencies in brackish waters waters with higher conductivity humphcypris subterranea g ortali p olivaceus and cypridopsis elongata apparently prefer flowing waters specific conductivity optima and tolerance ranges were calculated for the recorded ostracod species and may be used for the palaeoenvironmental assessment of fossil ostracod assemblages in addition a transfer function for quantitative specific conductivity estimation based on 141 samples was established with weighted averaging partial least squares regression wa pls the resulting coefficient of determination r 2 between observed and predicted conductivity values 0 72 and the root mean square error of prediction rmsep in gradient length 13 1 indicate that conductivity may be reliably estimated from ostracod assemblage data the transfer function was first applied to last glacial ostracod assemblage data from an archaeological trench in the sea of galilee northern israel relatively large conductivity fluctuations between ca 1 and 7 ms cm 1 were inferred for the period 24 20 cal ka bp in addition four episodes of freshwater influx near the site of the trench were identified from the presence of shells of freshwater and stream dwelling species intermingled with very abundant shells of cyprideis torosa the results of our study allow a better use of quaternary ostracods from the levant as palaeoenvironmental indicators of water body types and past conductivity levels and will contribute to a better understanding of quaternary environmental and climate change in the levant

a global compilation of coral sea level benchmarks implications and new challenges i present a quality controlled compilation of sea level data from u th dated corals encompassing 30 studies of 13 locations around the world the compilation contains relative sea level rsl data from each location based on both conventional and open system u th ages i have applied a commonly used age quality control criterion based on the initial 234u 238u activity ratios of corals in order to select reliable ages and to reconstruct sea level histories for the last 150 000 yr this analysis reveals scatter of rsl estimates among coeval coral benchmarks both within individual locations and between locations particularly during marine isotope stage mis 5a and the glacial inception following the last interglacial the character of data scatter during these time intervals imply that uncertainties still exist regarding tectonics glacio isostacy u series dating and or coral position to elucidate robust underlying patterns with confidence limits i performed a monte carlo style statistical analysis of the compiled coral data considering appropriate age and sea level uncertainties by its nature such an analysis has the tendency to smooth obscure millennial scale and finer details that may be important in individual datasets and favour the major underlying patterns that are supported by all datasets this statistical analysis is thus functional to illustrate major trends that are statistically robust what we know trends that are suggested but still are supported by few data what we might know subject to addition of more supporting data and improved corrections and which patterns data are clear outliers unlikely to be realistic given the rest of the global data and possibly needing further adjustments prior to the last glacial maximum and with the possible exception of the 130 120 ka period available coral data generally have insufficient temporal resolution and unexplained scatter which hinders identification of a well defined pattern with usefully narrow confidence limits this analysis thus provides a framework that objectively identifies critical targets for new data collection improved corrections and integration of coral data with independent stratigraphically continuous methods of sea level reconstruction

pleistocene raised marine terraces of the spanish mediterranean and atlantic coasts records of coastal uplift sea level highstands and climate changes detailed geological mapping morphostratigraphic palaeontological and geochronological uranium series analyses were undertaken on the raised marine terraces and interbedded terrestrial deposits along the spanish peninsular and insular atlantic and mediterranean coasts several sets of pleistocene shallow marine to coastal deposits exposed in a staircase arrangement are interpreted as being emplaced during sea level highstands coeval with interglacials or interstadials correlating with marine oxygen isotopic stages ois 5a 5c 5e 7 9 11 and older up to three highstands have been identified in deposits formed during ois 5e close to the end of ois 5e there is a record of sudden changes in sea surface conditions and climate marked by the disappearance of a major proportion of the warm senegalese fauna switches from oolitic to non oolitic facies and accumulation of boulder beaches dating of the coral cladocora caespitosa found in a layer that also contains strombus bubonius confirms the occurrence of warm fauna in the mediterranean basin during ois 7 as previously suggested by hillaire marcel et al 1986 goy et al 1986a b zazo and goy 1989 also the occurrence of warm faunas in deposits corresponding to an older interglacial probably ois 9 or 11 in the balearic islands suggests similar oceanographic conditions sea surface temperature assuming constant salinity during the last interglacial and at least two interglacials of the middle pleistocene in the western mediterranean a 2002 elsevier science b v all rights reserved

uranium series ages of marine terrace corals from the pacific coast of north america and implications for last interglacial sea level history abstract few of the marine terraces along the pacific coast of north america have been dated using uranium series techniques ten terrace sequences from southern oregon to southern baja california sur have yielded fossil corals in quantities suitable for u series dating by alpha spectrometry u series dated terraces representing the 80 000 yr sea level high stand are identified in five areas bandon oregon point arena san nicolas island and point loma california and punta banda baja california terraces representing the 125 000 yr sea level high stand are identified in eight areas cayucos san luis obispo bay san nicolas island san clemente island and point loma california punta bands and isla guadalupe baja california and cabo pulmo baja california sur on san nicolas island point loma and punta bands both the 80 000 and the 125 000 yr terraces are dated terraces that may represent the 105 000 sea level high stand are rarely preserved and none has yielded corals for u series dating similarity of coral ages from midlatitude erosional marine terraces with coral ages from emergent constructional reefs on tropical coastlines suggests a common forcing mechanism namely glacioeustatically controlled fluctuations in sea level superimposed on steady tectonic uplift the low marine terrace dated at 125 000 yr on isla guadalupe baja california presumed to be tectonically stable supports evidence from other localities for a 6 m sea level at that time data from the pacific coast and a compilation of data from other coasts indicate that sea levels at 80 000 and 105 000 yr may have been closer to present sea level within a few meters than previous studies have suggested

quaternary stratigraphy and paleogeography of the galilee coastal plain israel the quaternary deposits in the galilee coastal plain comprise alternating calcareous sandstone red loam dark clay and uncemented sand the calcareous sandstone in the lower part of the sequence represents a pliocene to early pleistocene marine transgression and is covered unconformably by the late quaternary sequence the base of this sequence has an estimated age of 500 000 yr it is covered unconformably by marine calcareous sandstone in the west which represents the global high sea level stand of isotope stage 7 1 and is known as one of the tyrrhenian events in the mediterranean area the overlying members represent the low sea level stand of stage 6 the first a red paleosol indicating a relatively wet phase and the second an eolianite unit representing a drier phase the eolianite forms longitudinal subparallel ridges that formed contemporaneously the overlying marine sandstone which contains one of the diagnostic fossils of the tyrrhenian events the gastropodstrombus buboniuslmk accumulated during the global high stand of stage 5 5 the last glacial period left no sedimentary record the holocene is represented by a marine clay unit that is covered by sand the present study establishes a complete and detailed chronostratigraphic sequence for an eastern mediterranean beach which contains the gastropods buboniuslmk s buboniuson the galilee coast is attributed to stage 5 5 and therefore establishes an east west mediterranean correlation which can be used for linking mediterranean events to paleo sea levels and global climate changes

precise chronology of the last interglacial period 234u 230th data from fossil coral reefs in the bahamas a detailed study of 238 u 234 u 230 th ages was made for different coral species from two bahamian reefs to determine the time scale of the sea level high during the last interglacial period using recently developed mass spectrometric techniques for the measurement of u and th isotopes thirty seven coral samples were analyzed in replicate typical errors at 125 ky are 1 5 ky 2 and 3 ky time intervals appear to be well resolved this high precision permits detailed chronologic study with time resolution adequate to define stages of the reef s history these data demonstrate that the time between transgression and regression of the ocean in the last interglacial was about 12 ky after which sea level fell rapidly at more than 2 m ky the high sea level stand began possibly by 132 ky and certainly by 129 ky ago when sea level reached 6 m above present mean low sea level high sea level was sustained until 120 ky and then fell rapidly this time period covers the milankovitch insolation peak at 65 n but is not sharply defined and the sea level high lasted from about 4 ky before the insolation peak to 8 ky after it we find no evidence for a double peak of sea level rise in the last interglacial episode that is high stands at both 125 and 142 ky there appears to be some discrepancy between this precise chronology for a coral reef on a tectonically stable platform and the chronology assigned to deep sea sediments the present results show that the duration of the last interglacial led to a 12 ky period of high sea level stand which is much longer than the insolation peak the study area consists of two sizeable bank barrier coral reefs of sangamon age that crop out along the coast northwest of cockburn town on san salvador island and at devil s point on great inagua island the initial stage of reef development is not revealed at either site but the main parts of both reefs are well preserved at cockburn town the beginning of the reef was marked by colonization of acropora palmata on hardground areas and possibly other corals at 132 ky ago patch reefs at the southeastern flank of the developing reef were growing by 129 to 126 ky ago by 126 to 123 ky ago the crest of the reef was formed by the frame building coral a palmata and associated patch reefs flourished along its flanks a palmata coral heads grew upward to a mean low sea level 6 m above the present one the reef began to decline as sea level dropped at about 123 to 120 ky ago near two measured profiles at devil s point the top of a rubblestone dominated by a cervicornis and patch reef corals preserved in growth position have been beveled off and represent an ancient wave cut surface 230 th ages on corals below and above this surface indicate that it was cut at about 125 1 ky ago

a revised morpho and chronostratigraphy of the late and middle pleistocene coral reef terraces on southern barbados west indies the barbados coral reef terraces are one of the few type localities worldwide that provide insights into interglacial sea level change during the late and middle pleistocene several sea level estimates have been established since the late 1960s and each has contributed to the barbados model of sea level change this paper presents new morpho and chonostratigraphic data from the barbados coral reef terraces developed over the last 12 years the work is based on significant advances in electron spin resonance esr dating of fossil coral air photo interpretation and a greatly improved geomorphic map of preserved fossil beach formations and reef terraces above present sea level the need for a revision of past published morpho and chronostratigraphies is best demonstrated on the southern part of the island the morpho and chronostratigraphic sequence in this region is both more complex and diverse than has been assumed so far the revised morphostratigraphy presented here includes a differentiation of coral reef terraces wave cut platforms and other erosive features such as notches and cliffs our study of these geomorphic features combined with new numeric dating results esr u th enable a revised estimate of the spatial and temporal variation in tectonic uplift rate within south barbados these new rates are an essential requirement for more precise glacio eustatic sea level reconstructions during the late and middle pleistocene from this region

high rates of sea level rise during the last interglacial period sea level during the last interglacial stood at least 4 m higher than at present with evidence of short term fluctuations of up to 10 m a new continuous sea level record from the red sea and coral ages suggest that during these fluctuations sea level changes were on the order of 1 6 m per century

a revised classification of limestones abstract the most widely used classifications of limestones are now thirty years old and our appreciation of the diagenetic effects on limestone textures is now much greater a revision of the classifications of dunham 1962 and embry and klovan 1971 is offered and new diagenetic categories are proposed the confusing term lime mudstone is replaced by calcimudstone two categories of diagenetic textures are recognized non obliterative and obliterative the former contains limestones which are almost wholly composed of diagenetic cement cementstones and those whose fabric is the result of intergranular pressure solution condensed and fitted grainstones obliterative categories include limestones and dolomites whose original fabric has been destroyed sub categories include sparstones or dolosparstones crystals 10 m in size and microsparstones dolomicrosparstones crystals 4 10 m in size and dolomicrostones crystals m in size many diagenetic processes can produce fabrics which mimic depositional ones and these are reviewed

sea level and deep water temperature changes derived from benthic foraminifera isotopic records we show that robust regressions can be established between relative sea level rsl data and benthic foraminifera oxygen isotopic ratios from the north atlantic and equatorial pacific ocean over the last climatic cycle we then apply these regressions to long benthic isotopic records retrieved at one north atlantic and one equatorial pacific site to build a composite rsl curve as well as the associated confidence interval over the last four climatic cycles our proposed reconstruction of rsl is in good agreement with the sparse rsl data available prior to the last climatic cycle we compute bottom water temperature changes at the two sites and at one southern indian ocean site taking into account potential variations in north atlantic local deep water 18o our results indicate that a last glacial maximum lgm enrichment of the ocean mean oxygen isotopic ratio of 0 95 is the lowest value compatible with unfrozen deep waters in the southern indian ocean if local deep water 18o did not increase during glacials with respect to present such a value of the lgm mean ocean isotopic enrichment would impose a maximum decrease in local bottom water 18o at the north atlantic site of 0 30 during glacials

vermetid reefs and their use as palaeobathymetric markers new insights from the late miocene of the mediterranean southern italy crete abstract vermetids are a poorly known family of reef building gastropods characterized by an extremely irregular growth of the shell vermetid reefs are known from the badenian middle miocene to present day and their main importance is related to their use as sea level indicators strictly associated to the intertidal or immediate subtidal zone during their evolution two different vermetid genera have been recognized as reef builders petaloconchus was the major component of vermetid reefs until the holocene when for still unknown reasons it was almost completely replaced by dendropoma in the mediterranean basin petaloconchus reefs have been frequently found in close association to late miocene coral bioconstructions new finding of petaloconchus reefs within the slope facies of the salento messinian reef complex southern italy together with new data from late tortonian early messinian reefs of crete greece provide further information on the palaeoecology of these peculiar bioconstructions stratigraphical and sedimentological contexts of salento and crete vermetid reefs have been described together with an account of their size shape and inner structure biotic vermetids serpulids bryozoans and coralline algae and abiotic components early marine cements and intra reef sediment have been identified by microfacies analysis and their percentage abundance has been reported these data allow the description of vermetid reefs from two different depositional settings along the shelf edge and for the first time within the coral reef slope shelf edge and slope petaloconchus reefs show the same inner structure and composition but they differ by their shape by the density of the framework and by the relative proportion of the associated reef building organisms serpulids bryozoans and coralline algae additional information on their palaeobathymetric setting have been acquired from the presence of other reef building biota porites corals and halimeda green algae which occur in close proximity to slope vermetid reefs together with observations on some anatomical feature of petaloconchus shells results clearly indicate for petaloconchus reefs a palaeobathymetric range spanning from the upper subtidal zone down to 30 50 m of depth the present study confirms vermetid reefs as important tools for the reconstructions of ancient sea level but great attention has to be paid to the identification of the main reef building vermetid actually while a great number of present day dendropoma reefs can be associated to the mean sea level late miocene vermetid reefs from salento and crete indicate for petaloconchus bioconstructions a wider palaeobathymetric range

rapid coupling between ice volume and polar temperature over the past 150 000 years a new approach to dating a continuous sea level record using speleothem u th ages shows that past variations in global ice volume occurred within centuries of polar climate change with rates of sea level rise reaching at least 1 metre per century

morphometry and elevation of the last interglacial tidal notches in tectonically stable coasts of the mediterranean sea abstract we report detailed morphometric observations on several mis 5 5 and a few older mis 11 21 25 fossil tidal notches shaped along carbonate coasts at 80 sites in the central mediterranean sea and at an additional six sites in the eastern and western mediterranean at each site we performed precise measurements of the fossil tidal notch ftn width and depth and of the elevation of its base relative to the base of the present tidal notch ptn the age of the fossil notches is obtained by correlation with biologic material associated with the notches at or very close to the site this material was previously dated either through radiometric analysis or by its fossiliferous content the width i e the difference in elevation between base and top of the notches ranges from 1 20 to 0 38 m with a mean of 0 74 m although the ftn is always a few centimetres wider than the ptn probably because of the lack of the biological reef coupled with a small erosional enlargement in the ftn the broadly comparable width suggests that tide amplitude has not changed since mis 5 5 times this result can be extended to the mis 11 features because of a comparable notch width but not to the mis 21 and 25 epochs although observational control of these older notches is limited we regard this result as suggesting that changes in tide amplitude broadly occurred at the early middle pleistocene transition the investigated mis 5 5 notches are located in tectonically stable coasts compared to other sectors of the central mediterranean sea where they are uplifted or subsided to 100 m and over in these stable areas the elevation of the base of the mis 5 5 notch ranges from 2 09 to 12 48 m with a mean of 5 7 m such variability although limited indicates that small land movements deriving from slow crustal processes may have occurred in stable areas we defined a number of sectors characterized by different geologic histories where a careful evaluation of local vertical land motion allowed the selection of the best representative elevation of the mis 5 5 peak highstand for each sector this elevation has been compared against glacial isostatic adjustment gia predictions drawn from a suite of ice sheet models ice g5 ice g6 and anice selen that are used in combination with the same solid earth model and mantle viscosity parameters results indicate that the gia signal is not the main cause of the observed highstand variability and that other mechanisms are needed the gia simulations show that even within the mediterranean basin the maximum highstand is reached at different times according to the geographical location our work shows that besides gia even in areas considered tectonically stable additional vertical tectonic movements may occur with a magnitude that is significantly larger than the gia

new data on the pleistocene of mallorca abstract stratigraphic geomorphologic and isoleucine epimerization studies at 15 sites in mallorca define four aminozones a c e and f g of increasing age that are related to transgressive regressive marine cycles from the holocene to the mid pleistocene calibration of aminozone e glycymeris aile ile mean from all sites 0 41 0 03 n 38 is provided by a 129 7 ka u series coral age on cladocora caespitosa from son grauet of the younger aminozones a relates to the holocene transgression and aminozone c to a mid to late isotopic stage 5 event 90 15 ka revealed only by supralittoral eolianites assigning an age to the older poorly resolved aminozones f and g called f g in this case is uncertain without supporting radiometric data but an age of 180 ka can be assigned to these aminozone s f g based on a kinetic model and other examples in the mediterranean several deposits previously dated u series molluscs between 75 and 300 ka appear to belong to the last interglacial complex stage 5 and aminozone e a proposed revision of the positive sea level history of mallorca shows multiple minor oscillations during the major last interglacial cycle stage 5 and two mid pleistocene sea levels one lower than present and the other at about 14 m a s l

eastern mediterranean sea levels through the last interglacial from a coastal marine sequence in northern israel a last interglacial marine isotope stage mis5e marine coastal sequence has been identified along the galilee coast of israel with the type section located at rosh hanikra rh the microtidal regime and tectonic stability along with the detailed stratigraphy of the rh shore make the study region ideally suited for determining relative sea level rsl through the mis5e interval in the eastern mediterranean the sequence contains fossilized microtidal subunits at a few meters above the current sea level unfortunately all fossils were found to be altered so that u th datings cannot be considered to represent initial deposition we contend that u th dating of strombus bubonius shells recrystallized to calcite suffices to indicate a lower limit of 110 8 ka for the time sea level dropped below the rh sedimentary sequence the rh section comprises three main subunits of a previously determined member the yasaf member a a gravelly unit containing the diagnostic gastropod strombus bubonius lamarck persististrombus latus which was deposited in the intertidal to super tidal stormy zone b vermetidae reef domes indicating a shallow water depositional environment and c coarse to medium sized bioclastic sandstone probably deposited in the shallow sub tidal zone the sequence overlies three abrasion platforms that are cut by tidal channels at elevations of 0 8 m 2 6 m and 3 4 m and which are filled with mis5e sediments we present a detailed study of the sequence with emphasis on stratigraphic sedimentological and palaeontological characteristics that indicate sea level changes although without precise absolute dating the stratigraphic sequence of rh through mis5e allows us to identify a time series of rsl positions using the elevations of three stratigraphic subunits reconstructed rsl values range from 1 0 m to 7 m with uncertainly 1 m and most fall within a narrow range of 1 0 to 3 3 m toward the end of mis5e rsl exceeded about 7 m glacial isostatic adjustment gia modelling using multiple ice histories suggests that gia corrections range between about 1 8 m and 5 4 m this implies that global mean sea level resided between 0 8 m and 8 7 m during most of mis5e the absolute gia correction would not be constant through the interglacial and reduces to a range of 1 2 m to 2 4 m towards the end of the interglacial

timing and duration of the last interglacial evidence for a restricted interval of widespread coral reef growth abstract we report new mass spectrometric u series ages for eight last interglacial fossil reefs along the continental margin of western australia corals were selected in growth position from localities that are characterized by apparently low levels of diagenesis and relative tectonic stability so that the fossil reefs provide critical information on last interglacial sea levels without requiring corrections for tectonic movements in addition we have improved the constraint on the timing of onset of reef growth by recovering drill core coral from the base of the reefs uranium and thorium isotopes were measured with high levels of precision leading to improvements in age resolution and allowing samples which have undergone diagenetic exchange of uranium and thorium to be more easily identified and discarded these data supplement our previous results for rottnest island and leander point leading to more than seventy mass spectrometric u series ages from which constraints can be placed on the timing duration and character of the last interglacial sea level highstand reliable ages show that reef growth started contemporaneously at 128 1 ka along the entire western australian coastline while relative sea levels were at least 3 m above the present level because western australia is located far from the former penultimate glacial maximum ice sheets and are not significantly effected by glacial unloading these data constrain the timing of onset of the last interglacial period to 128 1 ka assuming reef growth started soon after sea level approached interglacial levels a unique regressive reef sequence at mangrove bay constrains the timing of termination of the last interglacial period to 116 1 ka the major episode of reef building however both globally and locally along the western australian coast is restricted to a very narrow interval occurring from 128 ka and 121 ka suggesting that global ocean surface temperatures were warm and or sea levels were stable enough to allow prolific reef growth only during the earlier part of the last interglacial

paleo sea level changes and relative sea level indicators precise measurements indicative meaning and glacial isostatic adjustment perspectives from mallorca western mediterranean abstract paleo relative sea level rsl indicators formed during the marine isotope stage mis 5e have been reported by a large number of studies worldwide despite this three main aspects are seldom reported 1 use of high precision survey techniques applied to mis 5e rsl indicators 2 application of modern analogs to understand the indicative meaning of mis 5e rsl indicators 3 estimates of the effects of glacial isostatic adjustment gia on the mis 5e records in this study we show how the three points above have been addressed in a focused study on last interglacial outcrops on the island of mallorca we measured the elevation of several rsl indicators with high accuracy differential gps vertical accuracies down to 0 1 m and we established the relationship between each rsl indicator and the paleo sea level through calculation of the indicative meaning for each rsl indicator in particular we present a novel technique to calculate the indicative meaning of fossil beach deposits with a phase averaged morphodynamic model cshore we show how this approach helps overcoming difficulties with the survey of the modern analogs for these indicators our results show that two paleo rsls are imprinted in mallorca at 2 9 0 8 m and 11 3 1 0 m we then compare our field based results with modelled paleo rsl calculated from the predictions of the ice earth coupled anice selen model using few different ice sheet melting scenarios during mis 5e we conclude that indicative ranges can be derived from relatively simple morphodynamic models and that the comparison of field derived and modelled rsl values is a good method to validate possible scenarios of mis 5e sea level variability especially in absence of precise dating

benthic foraminifera as palaeoenvironmental indicators during the last million years in the eastern mediterranean inner shelf abstract benthic and planktonic foraminifera were studied in inner shelf sedimentary sequences in haifa bay israel three boreholes taken at water depths from 5 to 14 m spanning about the last 1 ma and a set of modern sediment samples used as modern analogue were utilized for reconstructing palaeoenvironments and palaeobathymetry the palaeoenvironmental data were used for assessing tectonic activity of the carmel fault a branch of the dead sea transform that bounds the southern side of the bay quantitative analyses showed four biofacies a fresh to brackish wetland environment and three progressively deepening marine biofacies relative water depth ranges were estimated using changes in benthic foraminiferal assemblages presence or absence of ammonia sp 1 and the percentage of planktonic foraminifera the distribution of the biofacies suggests water depths no deeper than 15 m during most interglacial stages water depths to 15 40 m during short transgressive phases of mis 5 5 7 11 and 13 and water depth reaching 40 80 m in the earliest transgressive phases mis 27 and mis 29 the environmental conditions on both sides of the fault were quite similar along the succession this suggests that the movements of the uplifted and down faulted blocks have more or less coincided since about 1 ma

ice volume and sea level during the last interglacial during the last interglacial period 125 000 years ago sea level was at least several meters higher than at present with substantial variability observed for peak sea level at geographically diverse sites speculation that the west antarctic ice sheet collapsed during the last interglacial period has drawn particular interest to understanding climate and ice sheet dynamics during this time interval we provide an internally consistent database of coral u th ages to assess last interglacial sea level observations in the context of isostatic modeling and stratigraphic evidence these data indicate that global eustatic sea level peaked 5 5 to 9 meters above present sea level requiring smaller ice sheets in both greenland and antarctica relative to today and indicating strong sea level sensitivity to small changes in radiative forcing

the durability of bioclastic sediments and implications for coral reef deposit formation the generation and composition of carbonate sediment within tropical carbonate settings is controlled by the skeletal production of caco3 in conjunction with physical biological and chemical processes which act to break down and disperse skeletal remains using the results of detailed tumbling barrel experiments this paper discusses the role the physical durability of common constituents of reef sediment plays in the composition of coral reef deposits the durability of the skeletal remains of six reef sediment constituents was determined experimentally using tumbling barrels results indicate that constituent durability varies considerably amongst common reef sediment constituents calcareous algae halimeda was the least durable constituent tested followed by larger benthic foraminifera baculogypsina sphaerulata and marginopora vertebralis and the pelecypod fragum fragum two species of branching coral acropora sarmentosa and acropora nasuta were found to be the most resistant to physical destruction these findings provide increased power to interpret reef and island deposits and the potential role skeletal durability plays in the retention of constituent skeletons within coral reef associated sedimentary systems

sea level and deep sea temperature variability over the past 5 3 million years ice volume and hence sea level and deep sea temperature are key measures of global climate change sea level has been documented using several independent methods over the past 0 5 million years myr older periods however lack such independent validation all existing records are related to deep sea oxygen isotope 18o data that are influenced by processes unrelated to sea level for deep sea temperature only one continuous high resolution mg ca based record exists with related sea level estimates spanning the past 1 5 myr here we present a novel sea level reconstruction with associated estimates of deep sea temperature which independently validates the previous 0 1 5 myr reconstruction and extends it back to 5 3 myr ago we find that deep sea temperature and sea level generally decreased through time but distinctly out of synchrony which is remarkable given the importance of ice albedo feedbacks on the radiative forcing of climate in particular we observe a large temporal offset during the onset of plio pleistocene ice ages between a marked cooling step at 2 73 myr ago and the first major glaciation at 2 15 myr ago last we tentatively infer that ice sheets may have grown largest during glacials with more modest reductions in deep sea temperature a novel approach to the estimation of sea level and deep sea temperature has been used to determine these quantities over the past 5 3 million years this approach based on oxygen isotope records from the eastern mediterranean shows that temperature and sea level histories are broadly correlated but also show intriguing temporal offsets most records of past sea level variation and associated changes in ocean temperature rely on variations in oxygen isotopes recorded in deep sea marine microorganisms these signals unfortunately are confounded by other influences making it difficult to extract a clear climate related signal eelco rohling and colleagues now present a novel approach to estimating sea level and deep sea temperature variations for the past 5 3 million years the record based on oxygen isotope variations from the eastern mediterranean avoids the issues of the deep sea approach and generally corresponds to an independent record of the past 1 6 million years as expected temperature and sea level are broadly correlated but also show intriguing temporal discontinuities as at the initiation of plio pleistocene ice ages when a major sea level drop lagged a sharp temperature decline by several hundred thousand years

rapid sea level and climate change at the close of the last interglaciation mis 5e evidence from the bahama islands the geology of the last interglaciation sensu stricto marine isotope substage mis 5e in the bahamas records the nature of sea level and climate change after a period of quasi stability for most of the interglaciation during which reefs grew to 2 5 m sea level rose rapidly at the end of the period incising notches in older limestone after brief stillstands at 6 and perhaps 8 5 m sea level fell with apparent speed to the mis 5d lowstand and much cooler climatic conditions it was during this regression from the mis 5e highstand that the north atlantic suffered an oceanographic reorganization about 118 3 ka ago during this same interval massive dune building greatly enlarged the bahama islands giant waves reshaped exposed lowlands into chevron shaped beach ridges ran up on older coastal ridges and also broke off and threw megaboulders onto and over 20 m high cliffs the oolitic rocks recording these features yield concordant whole rock amino acid ratios across the archipelago whether or not the last interglaciation serves as an appropriate analog for our greenhouse world it nonetheless reveals the intricate details of climatic transitions between warm interglaciations and near glacial conditions

late quaternary lacustrine deposits of the dead sea basin high resolution sequence stratigraphy from downhole logging data abstract sequence architecture and depositional sequences of the quaternary lacustrine succession deposited in the northern dead sea sub basin were examined using logging data collected during the 2010 2011 icdp campaign methods borrowed from sequence stratigraphy techniques were used to investigate the characteristics of sediments deposited in the central part of the northern lake high resolution wire logging data combined with a detailed lithological description of the icdp 5017 1 a deep borehole were used to examine depositional systems and related processes controlling their formation analysis of sedimentary stacking patterns and stratal surfaces within the late pleistocene holocene lacustrine succession revealed 10 depositional sequences it was possible to identify key stratal boundaries and to discern between three sedimentary stacking patterns interpreted here as representing lowstand systems tracts lst transgressive systems tracts tst and highstand systems tracts hst examined together they may be interpreted in terms of relative lake level changes on the basis of the stratigraphic analysis complemented with new age dating this article presents a record of the sediment accumulation pattern and a relative lake level curve reconstructed for the last ca 225 ka results show that stratigraphic units and depositional and erosional surfaces examined in the deep 5017 1 a borehole can be correlated to the proximal area of the basin this means that changes in relative lake levels were generally synchronous and uniform across the dead sea basin the creation of accommodation space in the northern dead sea was found to generally be in phase with paleoclimatic modulating lake levels and not due to tectonics

constraint on the penultimate glacial maximum northern hemisphere ice topography 140 kyrs bp abstract the penultimate glacial maximum pgm 140 kyrs bp is known to be the most extensive glaciation on record that occurred during the last 400 kyrs over eurasia we used a coupled atmosphere ocean sea ice land model to simulate the climate of the pgm accounting for a reconstruction of the large pgm eurasian ice sheet due to uncertainties in the pgm laurentide ice sheet topography two simulations with different ice sheet topographies over north america large as for the last glacial maximum lgm and small as for 13 kyrs bp are performed results show that the simulated pgm glacial maximum climates are of comparable magnitude with previous simulations of the lgm in both cases assuming a small laurentide ice sheet instead of the lgm one in our pgm simulations results in a shift in the planetary waves this causes an increase in storm track activity over the north atlantic as well as higher temperatures and precipitation rates over north america north atlantic and over the eurasian ice sheet in addition it induces a negative temperature anomaly over east siberia yielding a thick snow cover which seems to be in agreement with data from recent arctic campaigns suggesting that an ice cap developed over beringia during the pgm all together the changes in large scale circulation and regional climate simulated using a small laurentide ice sheet match the proxies well based on our findings we suggest that the laurentide ice sheet might have been smaller during the pgm than during the lgm in turn also implying a larger eurasian ice sheet than during the lgm which is supported by various geological evidence of the pgm

desert speleothems reveal climatic window for african exodus of early modern humans one of the fi rst movements of early modern humans out of africa occurred 130 100 thousand years ago ka when they migrated northward to the levant region the climatic conditions that accompanied this migration are still under debate using high precision multicollector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry mc icp ms u th methods we dated carbonate cave deposits speleothems from the central and southern negev desert of israel located at the northeastern margin of the saharan arabian desert speleothems grow only when rainwater enters the unsaturated zone and this study reveals that a major cluster of wet episodes the last recorded in the area occurred between 140 and 110 ka this episodic wet period coincided with increased monsoonal precipitation in the southern parts of the saharanarabian desert the disappearance at this time of the desert barrier between central africa and the levant and particularly in the sinai negev land bridge between africa and asia would have created a climatic window for early modern human dispersion to the levant

antarctic temperature and global sea level closely coupled over the past five glacial cycles sea level has varied by over one hundred metres across glacial interglacial cycles over the past 520 000 years an extended sea level reconstruction shows a strong coupling between these sea level changes and antarctic surface temperatures over the past five glacial cycles

the use of ostracods from marginal marine brackish waters as bioindicators of modern and quaternary environmental change abstract ostracoda microscopic aquatic crustacea from brackish waters have a great potential for ecological monitoring and palaeoenvironmental analyses in highly variable environments this has been proven in many articles during recent decades but their potential has yet to be fully developed or utilised the analysis of ostracod assemblage composition species distributions eco phenotypic variability and the analysis of stable isotopes and trace elements in ostracod shells provide valuable information on present and past water salinity temperature and chemistry hydrodynamic conditions substrate characteristics climate sea level variations oxygen and nutrient availability this article provides an overview on the application of ostracods from brackish waters for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction in the quaternary and for environmental studies in present day environments

on postglacial sea level summary an exact method is presented for calculating the changes in sea level that occur when ice and water masses are rearranged on the surface of elastic and viscoelastic non rotating earth models the method is used to calculate the instantaneous elastic and delayed vi scoelastic sea level changes following the partial melting of late quaternary ice sheets we find that there can be large errors in the usual assumption that changes in sea level are uniform over the ocean basins if a quantity of ice equivalent to a uniform 100 m rise in sea level melts from the laurentide and fennoscandian ice sheets then in the south pacific the instantaneous rise in sea level can be as large as 120m in the north atlantic the instantaneous rise is always less than 100 m there is a zone in the north atlantic with almost no sea level change and near greenland and norway the sea level falls rather than rises by over 100 m one thousand years after the melting a forebulge migrating towards the ice loads causes water to flow from the south pacific into the north pacific suggesting that raised beaches should occur in the south pacific the gravitational attraction of an ice mass upon a nearby ocean tends to hold sea level high in the vicinity of the ice this extra load near the ice may have a significant influence on postglacial isostatic adjustment

impact of eustatic and tectonic processes on the southeastern mediterranean shelf during the last one million years quantitative reconstructions using a foraminiferal transfer function abstract benthic foraminifera based transfer function models provide accurate sea level reconstructions for shelf and coastal environments around the world this study presents for the first time results of a foraminiferal transfer function aiming at the reconstruction of relative sea level in the southeastern mediterranean shelf during the past one million years a weighted averaging partial least squares wa pls regression method was used for the development of the transfer function based on an extensive set of surface samples modern training data set from the study area the transfer function was applied to three shelf sediment successions retrieved from haifa bay israel the modern analog technique mat and the random tf test were used to investigate similarity between modern and fossil foraminiferal faunas testing the reliability and significance of our model for paleowater depth reconstruction the performance of the wa pls transfer functions suggests a strong relationship between the observed and estimated water depths in the modern data set with relatively precise reconstructions of 7 0 m root mean squared error of prediction over a water depth range of 3 to 80 m the deepest paleo water depths were reconstructed for the earliest sea level highstands recorded in the sediment records mis 27 and mis 29 in the down faulted boreholes due to tectonic movements whereas the younger interglacial sedimentary units mis 25 13 11 7 5 5 and 1 were mostly deposited at

retracing the quaternary history of sea level changes in the spanish mediterranean atlantic coasts geomorphological and sedimentological approach abstract this study analyses coastal geomorphic responses to the various sea level changes that occurred throughout the quaternary period in the mediterranean and atlantic coasts of spain particular emphasis is paid to the geomorphic and stratigraphic record of the changes in amplitude duration and frequency associated with the major gradual climate changes observed in marine cores and ice oxygen isotope records during the early and middle pleistocene ca 2 6 myr ca 1 4 0 8 myr ca 0 4 0 2 myr and also with the rapid and abrupt late pleistocene and holocene climate changes with this aim the best preserved and most complete sedimentary sequences known in the spanish mediterranean and atlantic coasts covering diverse geodynamic and climatic contexts were selected and analyses this study is mainly based on field investigation of geomorphic sedimentologic and stratigraphic features of mapped morphosedimentary units combined with reliable chronological data the analyses include the interpretation of sedimentary environments the 3 d reconstruction of facies and morphosedimentary unit arrangement paying special attention to the lateral geomorphic relationships between marine and terrestrial morphosedimentary units developed during interglacials under sea level highstand scenarios the interglacials occurred during four key quaternary periods might be related with major gradual changes associated with glacial climate cycles reported from marine and ice oxygen isotope records almost coeval changes in geomorphological styles are reported from all studied areas regardless of their specific geodynamic context results from the mediterranean realm suggest that this area is more sensitive to climatic and sea level variability than the spanish atlantic coast particularly in the case of rapid and abrupt changes

coral indicators of past sea level change a global repository of u series dated benchmarks fossil corals provide valuable data for reconstructing past sea levels as they are often well preserved in the fossil record and can be dated with u series methods here we present a global and internally consistent database of usingle bondth dated fossil coral sea level indicators including full consideration of all known associated uncertainties both vertical and chronological we include carefully determined taxon specific depth distributions rather than blanket depth uncertainty terms as used in most previous work this is based on a synthesis of extensive modern ecological information on depth ranges these ranges are found to be spatially variable between ocean basins between regions and on sub regional scales because depth itself is not limiting instead depth distributions arise from complex physical chemical and biological interactions with coral reef growth distribution and composition one of the main causes for recognition of the greater depth variability of coral taxa has been the routine inclusion of deep diving and rov surveys in coral ecological studies over the past few decades which has broken through the shallow water bias of early surveys by adding frequent observations on deeper occurrences although more are needed it is also clear from our assessment that coral habitat depth distributions must be determined on the species level to reduce uncertainties in reconstructions of past sea levels and that application to sea level studies then requires these studies also to identify fossil corals to the species level samples identified only to the genus level give rise to wide uncertainties in habitat depth and hence sea level our database contains extensive metadata to assist evaluations of dating quality as well as geomorphic and stratigraphic metadata we demonstrate with examples how such metadata can help to evaluate sea level reconstructions for example by identifying outlier points one example discusses the last interglacial lig where we use the available data with their uncertainties to assess probabilistically the time at which local sea levels exceed that of the present which yields a mean age of 124 6 ka with 95 probability bounds at 118 5 and 129 5 ka we conclude with identification of key outstanding issues relating to i current incomplete understanding of tectonic setting including the current lack of independent verification of uplift subsidence rates and reliance of somewhat unsatisfactory and circular use of the elevation of last interglacial deposits ii the depth distributions of coral taxa and iii the complete documentation of stratigraphic geomorphological and other contextual information with suggestions for strategies to address these issues

global glacial isostasy and the surface of the ice age earth the ice 5g vm2 model and grace abstract the 100 kyr quasiperiodic variation of continental ice cover which has been a persistent feature of climate system evolution throughout the most recent 900 kyr of earth history has occurred as a consequence of changes in the seasonal insolation regime forced by the influence of gravitational n body effects in the solar system on the geometry of earth s orbit around the sun the impacts of the changing surface ice load upon both earth s shape and gravitational field as well as upon sea level history have come to be measurable using a variety of geological and geophysical techniques these observations are invertible to obtain useful information on both the internal viscoelastic structure of the solid earth and on the detailed spatiotemporal characteristics of glaciation history this review focuses upon the most recent advances that have been achieved in each of these areas advances that have proven to be central to the construction of the refined model of the global process of glacial isos

timing and warmth of the last interglacial period new u series evidence from hawaii and bermuda and a new fossil compilation for north america abstract the timing and duration of the last interglacial period have been controversial with some studies suggesting a relatively short duration that is orbitally forced and others suggesting a long duration that is at most only partly related to orbital forcing new high precison thermal ionization mass spectrometric tims u series ages of last interglacial corals from hawaii and bermuda test these competing hypotheses waimanalo formation corals from slowly uplifting oahu hawaii range in age from 134 to 113 ka with most ages between 125 and 115 ka combined with published u series ages from nearby lanai the data suggest a long last interglacial period that may have occurred from 136 to at least 115 ka the results indicate that orbital forcing may not have been the only control on ice sheet growth and decay because sea level would have been high at times of relatively low northern hemisphere summer insolation on tectonically stable bermuda deposits from the 200 ka penultimate interglacial period 120 ka peak last interglacial period and 80 ka late last interglacial period high sea stands have been newly dated fossil corals on bermuda are derived from patch reefs that likely were catch up responses to sea level rise it is expected that u series ages of last interglacial corals on bermuda should overlap with but not be as old as the range of corals on oahu last interglacial corals on bermuda give a range of 125 113 ka which supports this hypothesis a large number of emergent marine deposits on hawaii bermuda and along coastal north america have now been dated to the last interglacial period both oahu and bermuda have marine invertebrate faunas with a number of extralimital southern species of mollusks suggesting warmer than present waters during the last interglacial period warmer waters are also suggested for last interglacial localities around most of north america from florida to canada and greenland and baja california to alaska these observations are consistent with similar warm water faunas of last interglacial age reported from japan the mediterranean basin and western australia it is likely that significant changes in ocean currents took place during the last interglacial period with a movement of relatively warm waters to higher latitudes than is the case today

rapid sea level changes at the close of the last interglacial substage 5e recorded in bahamian island geology rapid and abrupt relative sea level changes within the last interglacial substage 5e are recorded in the island geology of the tectonically stable bahamas from 132 to 118 ka reef growth reached a maximum elevation near 2 m as indicated by fossil reef elevation across the platform whereas bioeroded notches are incised in coastal cliffs as high as 6 m the end of the interval is characterized by voluminous eolianites exhibiting palm tree and frond impressions it is inferred that sea level for most of the interval remained near 2 m restraining reef growth and that the notch at 6 m represents a rapid and brief excursion just before the close of the substage the subsequent fall must have been rapid in order to leave the notch profile intact and mobilize windward lagoon ooids into dunes before cementation could anchor them in order to explain the rapid rise to 6 m glacial surging is invoked the subsequent fall also rapid may be a consequence of the surge flooding high latitudes and providing enough moisture to initiate reglaciation and drawdown

beach deposits of mis 5e high sea stand as indicators for tectonic stability of the carmel coastal plain israel abstract ten beach deposits mainly beachrock on the carmel coastal plain northern israel are discussed six are reported for the first time the deposits are situated within or close to the following seasonal stream locally termed nahal channels nahal ahuza amiram ovadia galim megadim bir ibdawiya me arot and kebara the morphology and lithology of most of the deposits are similar their uppermost altitude varies from 0 to 9 m above the present sea level most of the deposits are composed mainly of fine quartz sand and marine mollusk shells carbonate cemented the dominant mollusk families are glycymerididae cardiidae and donacidae most of the beach deposits are situated between cemented aeolian sandstones locally termed kurkar layers on the carmel coast ridge in the nahal ahuza deposit a marine gastropod lentigo latus an index fossil for the mis 5e high sea stand in the mediterranean area was discovered according to lithology and chronostratigraphy the presence of lentigo latus th u aar and rtl dating and flint artifacts the beach deposits were related to the last interglacial maximum about 125 ka bp i e the mis 5e high sea stand these beach deposits are used to identify the palaeo sea levels and coastlines and to study the tectonics along the carmel coastal plain by comparing the elevations and characteristics of the beach deposits to known mis 5e deposits elsewhere and by analyzing archaeological data it is concluded that during the last 125 ka the maximum possible vertical displacement was less than 48 mm ka and the carmel coastal plain was relatively tectonically stable

sub orbital sea level change in early mis 5e new evidence from the gulf of corinth greece abstract new evidence from uplifted marine isotope stage mis 5e carbonate deposits in the gulf of corinth demonstrate two rapid sub orbitally forced sea level oscillations in the early part of mis 5e microbial bioherms with inter grown marine coralline algae are interpreted as early highstand deposits presence of thin vadose flowstone speleothem coating inter bioherm surfaces mark a short lived regression of 10 m followed by sea level recovery and re establishment of the highstand marked by coralline algae coating inter bioherm cavity surfaces these marine algae are then coated by a younger vadose flowstone thick enough to provide an uncontaminated u th date of 134 8 2 0 ka the dated flowstone is itself encrusted by marine fauna and the entire sequence overlain by highstand marine sediments and marine aragonite cements dated to 114 118 ka part of the sustained mis 5e highstand the age of the younger flowstone demonstrates that the early highstand occurred before 134 8 2 0 ka and uplift arguments suggest that the bioherms are unlikely to be older than 136 ka these data are consistent with the notion that most of termination ii tii sea level rise had occurred before 135 ka indeed they suggest sea level at this time reached about 2 4 4 m below present sea level 6 18 4 m higher than previous estimates this early highstand was itself punctuated by a rapid sea level oscillation of 10 m as yet undated and this oscillation supported by new tii sea level data from the red sea siddall m bard e rohling e j hemleben c 2006 sea level reversal during termination ii geology 34 817 820 probably occurred in about 1000 yr the flowstone dated at 134 8 2 0 ka is interpreted to record the early part of the aladdin s cave regressive event from papua new guinea although in greece only the first 16 m of the event is recorded the new data presented here support a recently published red sea tii sea level curve they also highlight minor discrepancies in the absolute dating of these early mis 5e sea level events worldwide

grain size distribution function of polymodal sediments in hydraulic and aeolian environments and numerical partitioning of the sedimentary components most continental sediments are polymodal composed of overlapping components of which the grain size generally obeys some type of natural distribution the grain size components and their function types can be determined from frequency and cumulative curve plots in order to define the function formula of the grain size distribution the function parameters can be estimated by fitting a defined function formula to the measured grain size data of the sample which simultaneously achieves numerical partitioning of the sedimentary components genetic analysis of grain size components of hydraulic and aeolian sediments demonstrates the following environmental implications fluvial sediment is composed of isolated saltation and suspension components the sediments in closed lake basins are dominated by a suspension silt clay component with a small proportion of saltation sand the fine sand component makes up the majority of desert sand overlapping with a small proportion of fine dust aeolian loess is composed of two overlapping components a short suspension time silt component and a long suspension time fine component aeolian material in the north pacific deep sea sediments is dominated by long suspension time fine dust the fine component in aeolian sediments shows a consistent grain size distribution and genetic connection from the desert sand loess of northern china to the north pacific ocean which is mainly transported by westerly winds and is dispersed in the atmosphere forming a background dust c 2002 elsevier science b v all rights reserved

global sea level fluctuations during the last interglaciation mis 5e the geomorphology and morphostratigraphy of numerous worldwide sites reveal the relative movements of sea level during the peak of the last interglaciation marine isotope stage mis 5e assumed average duration between 13072 and 11972 ka because sea level was higher than present deposits are emergent exposed and widespread on many stable coastlines correlation with mis 5e is facilitated by similar morphostratigraphic relationships a low degree of diagenesis uranium thorium u th ages and a global set of amino acid racemization aar data this study integrates information from a large number of sites from tectonically stable areas including bermuda bahamas and western australia and some that have experienced minor uplift 2 5 m 100 ka including selected sites from the mediterranean and hawaii significant fluctuations during the highstand are evident at many mis 5e sites revealed from morphological stratigraphic and sedimentological evidence rounded and flat topped curves derived only from reef tracts are incomplete and not representative of the entire interglacial story despite predictions of much different sea level histories in bermuda the bahamas and western australia due to glacio and hydro isostatic effects the rocks from these sites reveal a nearly identical record during the last interglaciation the last interglacial highstand is characterized by several defined sea level intervals slis that include sli 1 post glacial mis 6 5e termination ii rise to above present before 130 ka sli 2 stability at 2 to 3 m for the initial several thousand years 130 to 125 ka during which fringing reefs were established and terrace morphology was imprinted along the coastlines sli 3 a brief fall to near or below present around 125 ka sli 4 a secondary rise to and through 3 4 m 124 to 122 ka followed by sli 5 a brief period of instability 120 ka characterized by a rapid rise to between 6 to 9 m during which multiple notches and benches were developed and sli 6 an apparently rapid descent of sea level into mis 5d after 119 ka u th ages are used to confirm the last interglacial age of the deposits but unfortunately in only two cases was it possible to corroborate the highstand subdivisions using radiometric ages sea levels above or at present were relatively stable during much of early mis 5e and the last 6 7 ka of mis 1 encouraging a comparison between them the geological evidence suggests that significant oceanographic and climatic changes occurred thereafter midway through and continuing through the end of mis 5e fluctuating sea levels and a catastrophic termination of mis 5e are linked to the instability of grounded and marine based ice sheets with the greenland gis and west antarctic wais ice sheets being the most likely contributors late mis 5e ice volume changes were accompanied by oceanographic reorganization and global ecological shifts and provide one ominous scenario for a greenhouse world r 2007 elsevier ltd all rights reserved