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Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Sea level

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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Coastal Paleogeography Of The Pacific Northwest, Usa, For The Last 12,000 Years Accounting For Three-Dimensional Earth Structure, Jorie Clark, Jay R. Alder, Marisa Borreggine, Jerry X. Mitrovica, Konstantin Latychev Jan 2022

Coastal Paleogeography Of The Pacific Northwest, Usa, For The Last 12,000 Years Accounting For Three-Dimensional Earth Structure, Jorie Clark, Jay R. Alder, Marisa Borreggine, Jerry X. Mitrovica, Konstantin Latychev

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Predictive modeling of submerged archaeological sites requires accurate sea-level predictions in order to reconstruct coastal paleogeography and associated geographic features that may have influenced the locations of occupation sites such as rivers and embayments. Earlier reconstructions of the paleogeography of parts of the western U.S. coast used an assumption of eustatic sea level, but this neglects the large spatial variations in relative sea level (RSL) associated with glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) and tectonics. Subsequent work using a one-dimensional (1-D) solid Earth model showed that reconstructions that accounted for GIA result in significant differences from those based on eustatic sea level. …


Coastal Paleogeography Of The Pacific Northwest, Usa, For The Last 12,000 Years Accounting For Three-Dimensional Earth Structure, Jorie Clark, Jay R. Alder, Marisa Borreggine, Jerry X. Mitrovica, Konstantin Latychev Jan 2022

Coastal Paleogeography Of The Pacific Northwest, Usa, For The Last 12,000 Years Accounting For Three-Dimensional Earth Structure, Jorie Clark, Jay R. Alder, Marisa Borreggine, Jerry X. Mitrovica, Konstantin Latychev

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Predictive modeling of submerged archaeological sites requires accurate sea-level predictions in order to reconstruct coastal paleogeography and associated geographic features that may have influenced the locations of occupation sites such as rivers and embayments. Earlier reconstructions of the paleogeography of parts of the western U.S. coast used an assumption of eustatic sea level, but this neglects the large spatial variations in relative sea level (RSL) associated with glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) and tectonics. Subsequent work using a one-dimensional (1-D) solid Earth model showed that reconstructions that accounted for GIA result in significant differences from those based on eustatic sea level. …


The Marine Terraces Of Santa Cruz Island, California: Implications For Glacial Isostatic Adjustment Models Of Last-Interglacial Sea-Level History, Daniel R. Muhs, R. Randall Schumann, Lindsey T. Groves, Kathleen R. Simmons, Christopher R. Florian Jan 2021

The Marine Terraces Of Santa Cruz Island, California: Implications For Glacial Isostatic Adjustment Models Of Last-Interglacial Sea-Level History, Daniel R. Muhs, R. Randall Schumann, Lindsey T. Groves, Kathleen R. Simmons, Christopher R. Florian

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) models hypothesize that along coastal California, last interglacial (LIG, broadly from ~130 to ~115 ka) sea level could have been as high as +11 m to +13 m, relative to present, substantially higher than the commonly estimated elevation of +6 m. Areas with low uplift rates can test whether such models are valid. Marine terraces on Santa Cruz Island have previously been reported to occur at low (<10 m) elevations, but ages of many such localities are not known. Using lidar imagery as a base, marine terraces on Santa Cruz Island were newly mapped, elevations were measured, fossils were collected for U-series dating (corals), strontium isotope compositions and amino acid geochronology (mollusks), and paleozoogeography (all taxa). Sr isotope compositions of mollusks from the highest of three marine terraces give ages of ~2.5 Ma to 1.9 Ma, along with Pliocene ages, fromshells interpreted to be reworked. U-series ages of corals fromthewestern part of the island indicate that low-elevation terraces north of the Santa Cruz Island fault correlate to the LIG. Where corals are lacking, amino acid ratios and faunal aspects support terrace correlation to the LIG high stand of sea. Elevations of most terrace localities north of the east-west trending Santa Cruz Island fault, in both thewestern and eastern parts of the island, range from5.75mto 8mabove sea level, well belowthe modeled paleo-sealevel range. Subsidence is ruled out as a mechanism for explaining the lower-than-modeled elevations, because higher-elevation terraces are present alongmuch of the Santa Cruz Island coast north of the fault, indicating longterm tectonic uplift. The low elevations of the LIG terrace fragments are, however, consistent with a low rate of uplift derived from the higher, ~2.5–1.9 Ma terrace. A number of other localities on the Pacific Coast, also dated to the LIG, have marine terrace elevations below the modeled level. GIA models may have overestimated last interglacial sea level by a substantial amount and need to be revised if used for forecasts for future sea-level rise.


Taphonomic Problems In Reconstructing Sea-Level History From The Late Quaternary Marine Terraces Of Barbados, Daniel R. Muhs, Kathleen R. Simmons Jan 2017

Taphonomic Problems In Reconstructing Sea-Level History From The Late Quaternary Marine Terraces Of Barbados, Daniel R. Muhs, Kathleen R. Simmons

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Although uranium series (U-series) ages of growth-position fossil corals are important to Quaternary sea-level history, coral clast reworking from storms can yield ages on a terrace dating to more than one high-sea stand, confounding interpretations of sea-level history. On northern Barbados, U-series ages corals from a thick storm deposit are not always younger with successively higher stratigraphic positions, but all date to the last interglacial period (~127 ka to ~112 ka), Marine Isotope Substage (MIS) 5.5. The storm deposit ages are consistent with the ages of growth-position corals found at the base of the section and at landward localities on …


Origin Of The Sinai-Negev Erg, Egypt And Israel: Mineralogical And Geochemical Evidence For The Importance Of The Nile And Sea Level History, Daniel R. Muhs, Joel Roskin, Haim Tsoar, Gary Skipp, James Budahn, Amihai Sneh, Naomi Porat, Jean-Daniel Stanley, Itzhak Katra, Dan G. Blumberg Jan 2013

Origin Of The Sinai-Negev Erg, Egypt And Israel: Mineralogical And Geochemical Evidence For The Importance Of The Nile And Sea Level History, Daniel R. Muhs, Joel Roskin, Haim Tsoar, Gary Skipp, James Budahn, Amihai Sneh, Naomi Porat, Jean-Daniel Stanley, Itzhak Katra, Dan G. Blumberg

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The Sinai-Negev erg occupies an area of 13,000 km2 in the deserts of Egypt and Israel. Aeolian sand of this erg has been proposed to be derived from the Nile Delta, but empirical data supporting this view are lacking. An alternative source sediment is sand from the large Wadi El Arish drainage system in central and northern Sinai. Mineralogy of the Negev and Sinai dunes shows that they are high in quartz, with much smaller amounts of K-feldspar and plagioclase. Both Nile Delta sands and Sinai wadi sands, upstream of the dunes, also have high amounts of quartz relative …


Sea-Level History Of Past Interglacial Periods From Uranium-Series Dating Of Corals, Curaçao, Leeward Antilles Islands, Daniel R. Muhs, John M. Pandolfi, Kathleen R. Simmons, R. Randall Schumann Jan 2012

Sea-Level History Of Past Interglacial Periods From Uranium-Series Dating Of Corals, Curaçao, Leeward Antilles Islands, Daniel R. Muhs, John M. Pandolfi, Kathleen R. Simmons, R. Randall Schumann

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Curaçao has reef terraces with the potential to provide sea-level histories of interglacial periods. Ages of the Hato (upper) unit of the “Lower Terrace” indicate that this reef dates to the last interglacial period, Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5.5. On Curaçao, this high sea stand lasted at least 8000 yr (~126 to ~118 ka). Elevations and age of this reef show that late Quaternary uplift rates on Curaçao are low, 0.026–0.054 m/ka, consistent with its tectonic setting. Ages of ~200 ka for corals from the older Cortalein unit of the Lower Terrace correlate this reef to MIS 7, with paleo-sea …


Evidence For The Timing And Duration Of The Last Interglacial Period From High-Precision Uranium-Series Ages Of Corals On Tectonically Stable Coastlines, Daniel R. Muhs Jan 2002

Evidence For The Timing And Duration Of The Last Interglacial Period From High-Precision Uranium-Series Ages Of Corals On Tectonically Stable Coastlines, Daniel R. Muhs

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The last interglacial period has a timing and duration that can be estimated from U-series dating of emergent, coral-bearing deposits on tectonically stable coastlines. High-precision dating from Bermuda, the Bahamas, Hawaii, and Australia suggests that the last interglacial period had a sea level at least as high as present from ∼128,000 to 116,000 yr B.P. Sea level reached a near-present level more quickly after the close of the penultimate glacial period than at the close of the last glacial period and the duration of high sea level is longer than that implied by the deep-sea record.