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No evidence from the eastern Mediterranean for a MIS 5e double peak sea-level highstand

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 February 2018

Barbara Mauz ,
Zhixiong Shen ,
Noureddine Elmejdoub  and
Giorgio Spada
Barbara Mauz*
Affiliation:
School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZT, UK School of Geographie und Geologie, University of Salzburg, 5020 Salzburg, Austria
Zhixiong Shen
Affiliation:
Department of Marine Science, Coastal Carolina University, Conway, South Carolina 29528, USA
Noureddine Elmejdoub
Affiliation:
Institut Supérieur des Sciences et Techniques, Université de Gabès, Zrig, 6072, Gabès, Tunisia
Giorgio Spada
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Scienze di Pure e Applicate, Urbino University, 61029 Urbino, Italy
*
*Corresponding author at: School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZT, UK; School of Geographie und Geologie, University of Salzburg, 5020 Salzburg, Austria. E-mail address mauz@liverpool.ac.uk (B. Mauz).
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Abstract

To understand past and future sea-level variability, it is important to know if during an interglacial the eustatic sea level is constant or oscillates by several meters around an average value. Several field sites within and outside the tropics have been interpreted to suggest such oscillations during Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 5e (129–116 ka). Here, we present our analysis of one such non-tropical site, Hergla, where a facies succession indicates two foreshore deposits above each other, previously interpreted as MIS 5e sea-level highstand amplified by a second rise. Our study, based on field, microfacies, and optical age Bayesian statistics shows a sea-level rise forming the upper foreshore strata that coincided with the global sea-level rise of the MIS 5a interstadial. The site does therefore not provide evidence for the MIS 5e double peak. We conclude from our analysis that the facies-based proxy is insensitive to small-scale sea-level oscillation. Likewise, uncertainties associated with age estimates are too large to robustly infer a short-term sea-level change.

Keywords

Last InterglacialSea LevelCarbonate SedimentsMediterranean
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 89 , Issue 2 , March 2018 , pp. 505 - 510
Copyright
Copyright © University of Washington. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2018 

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