Sea-level change and superstorms; geologic evidence from the last interglacial (MIS 5e) in the Bahamas and Bermuda offers ominous prospects for a warming Earth

Abstract. Marine Isotope Stage 5e (MIS 5e; the Last Interglacial, 125 ka) represents a process analog for a warmer world. Analysis of sea-level proxies formed in this period helps in constraining both regional and global drivers of sea-level change. In Southeast Asia, several studies have reported elevation and age information on MIS 5e sea-level proxies, such as fossil coral reef terraces or tidal notches, but a standardized database of such data was hitherto missing. In this paper, we produced such a sea-level database using the framework of the World Atlas of Last Interglacial Shorelines (WALIS; https://warmcoasts.eu/world-atlas.html). Overall, we screened and reviewed 14 studies on Last Interglacial sea-level indicators in Southeast Asia, from which we report 43 proxies (42 coral reef terraces and 1 tidal notch) that were correlated to 134 dated samples. Five data points date to MIS 5a (80 ka), six data points are MIS 5c (100 ka), and the rest are dated to MIS 5e. The database compiled in this study is available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5040784 (Maxwell et al., 2021).

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A standardized database of Last interglacial (MIS 5e) sea-level indicators in Southeast Asia

10.5194/essd-2021-126 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Kathrine Maxwell ◽

Hildegard Westphal ◽

Alessio Rovere

Keyword(s):

Coral Reef ◽

Southeast Asia ◽

Sea Level ◽

Sea Level Change ◽

Last Interglacial ◽

Level Change ◽

Mis 5E ◽

Near Future ◽

Fossil Coral ◽

Global Drivers

Abstract. Marine Isotope Stage 5e (the Last Interglacial, LIG) represents a process analogue for a warmer world expected for the near future. Analysis of LIG relative sea level (RSL) proxies helps in constraining both regional and global drivers of sea-level change. In Southeast Asia, several studies have reported elevation and age information on LIG RSL proxies, such as fossil coral reef terraces or tidal notches, but a standardized database of such data was hitherto missing. In this paper, we produced such sea-level database using the framework of the World Atlas of Last Interglacial Shorelines (WALIS, https://warmcoasts.eu/world-atlas.html). Overall, we screened and reviewed 14 studies on LIG sea-level indicators in Southeast Asia, from which we report 43 unique RSL proxies (42 coral reef terraces and one tidal notch), that were correlated to 134 dated samples. The database compiled in this study (Maxwell et al., 2021) is available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4681325.

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A standardized database of Last Interglacial sea-level indicators in southeast Asia: Records from coral reef terraces in a tectonically complex region

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-16151 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Kathrine Maxwell ◽

Hildegard Westphal ◽

Alessio Rovere

Keyword(s):

Coral Reef ◽

Southeast Asia ◽

Sea Level ◽

Tectonic Setting ◽

Sea Level Change ◽

The Philippines ◽

Sea Level Changes ◽

Last Interglacial ◽

Level Change ◽

Se Asia

The Last Interglacial (LIG), as well as other warmer periods in the Earth&#8217;s geologic history, provides an analogue for predicted warming conditions in the near future. Analysis of sea-level indicators during this period is important in constraining regional drivers of relative sea-level change (RSL) and in modeling future trajectories of sea-level rise. In southeast Asia, several studies have been done to examine LIG sea-level indicators such as coral reef terraces and tidal notches. A synthesis of the state-of-the-art of the LIG RSL indicators in the region, meanwhile, has yet to be done. We reviewed over 50 published works on the LIG RSL indicators in southeast Asia and used the framework of the World Atlas of Last Interglacial Shorelines (WALIS) in building a standardized database of previously published LIG RSL indicators in the region. In total, we identified 38 unique RSL indicators and inserted almost 140 ages in the database. Available data from Indonesia, the Philippines, and East Timor points to variable elevation of sea-level indicators during the LIG highlighting the complex tectonic setting of this region. Variable uplift rates (from as low as 0.02 to as high as 1.1 m/ka) were reported in the study areas echoing various collision and subduction processes influencing these sites. Although several age constraints and elevation measurements have been provided by these studies, more data is still needed to shed more light on the RSL changes in the region. With this effort under the WALIS framework, we hope to identify gaps in the LIG RSL indicators literature in SE Asia and recognize potential areas that can be visited for future work. We also hope that this initiative will help us further understand the different drivers of past sea-level changes in SE Asia and will provide inputs for projections of sea-level change in the future.

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Middle to Upper Pleistocene deposits of Shizukawa Hills in Hokkaido:Discussion on the cold stage and the relative sea-level change during the Last Interglacial Age

The Journal of the Geological Society of Japan ◽

10.5575/geosoc.94.343 ◽

1988 ◽

Vol 94 (5) ◽

pp. 343-359 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Tsutomu KONDO ◽

Yaeko IGARASHI ◽

Tsumoru SAGAYAMA

Keyword(s):

Sea Level ◽

Sea Level Change ◽

Last Interglacial ◽

Relative Sea Level ◽

Upper Pleistocene ◽

Level Change ◽

Cold Stage

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Giant boulders and Last Interglacial storm intensity in the North Atlantic

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ◽

10.1073/pnas.1712433114 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 114 (46) ◽

pp. 12144-12149 ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

Alessio Rovere ◽

Elisa Casella ◽

Daniel L. Harris ◽

Thomas Lorscheid ◽

Napayalage A. K. Nandasena ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sea Level ◽

North Atlantic ◽

Global Climate ◽

Last Interglacial ◽

The Bahamas ◽

Sea Levels ◽

Storm Intensity ◽

The North ◽

Rising Sea Levels ◽

Mis 5E

As global climate warms and sea level rises, coastal areas will be subject to more frequent extreme flooding and hurricanes. Geologic evidence for extreme coastal storms during past warm periods has the potential to provide fundamental insights into their future intensity. Recent studies argue that during the Last Interglacial (MIS 5e, ∼128–116 ka) tropical and extratropical North Atlantic cyclones may have been more intense than at present, and may have produced waves larger than those observed historically. Such strong swells are inferred to have created a number of geologic features that can be observed today along the coastlines of Bermuda and the Bahamas. In this paper, we investigate the most iconic among these features: massive boulders atop a cliff in North Eleuthera, Bahamas. We combine geologic field surveys, wave models, and boulder transport equations to test the hypothesis that such boulders must have been emplaced by storms of greater-than-historical intensity. By contrast, our results suggest that with the higher relative sea level (RSL) estimated for the Bahamas during MIS 5e, boulders of this size could have been transported by waves generated by storms of historical intensity. Thus, while the megaboulders of Eleuthera cannot be used as geologic proof for past “superstorms,” they do show that with rising sea levels, cliffs and coastal barriers will be subject to significantly greater erosional energy, even without changes in storm intensity.

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The southern North Sea as a natural palaeo-laboratory to reconstruct the coastal response to Last Interglacial sea-level rise

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-14805 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Natasha Barlow ◽

Victor Cartelle ◽

Oliver Pollard ◽

Lauren Gregoire ◽

Natalya Gomez ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sea Level Rise ◽

Sea Level ◽

North Sea ◽

Large Scale ◽

Recent Observation ◽

Sea Level Change ◽

Last Interglacial ◽

Large Area ◽

Level Change ◽

Southern North Sea

Current models that project sea-level rise beyond 2100 have large uncertainties because recent observation encompass a too limited range of climate variability to provide robust tests against which to simulate future changes. It is crucial to turn to the geological record where there are large-scale changes in climate, but the current interglacial provides limited evidence for how the Earth-system responds to increased temperatures, and therefore it is necessary to study previous climatically-warm periods. Global temperatures during the Last Interglacial were ~1oC warmer than pre-industrial values and 3-5oC warmer at polar latitudes, during which time global mean sea level was likely 6-9 m above present. Though the drivers of warming during the Last Interglacial are different to those of today, it is the amplified warming at polar latitudes, the primary locations of the terrestrial ice masses likely to contribute to long term sea-level rise, which makes the Last Interglacial an ideal palaeo-laboratory to understand coastal response to sea-level rise. &#160;However, our understanding of Last Interglacial sea level change is primarily limited to tropical and sub-tropical latitudes and it is important to understand the response of temperate estuarine settings to rising sea level.The ERC-funded RISeR project (Rates of Interglacial Sea-level Change, and Responses) focuses on specifically targeting palaeo shorelines buried within the southern North Sea, preserved beyond the limit of the Last Glacial Maximum ice sheets. Buried Last Interglacial sequences in this area provide a valuable record of marine transgression and are being unveiled in new geophysical and geotechnical datasets acquired to support the offshore renewable energy development. This offshore sedimentary archives offer significant advantages over the geomorphologically restricted onshore records allowing us to trace the transgression over a much large area, and should capture the earliest flooding of the Last Interglacial North Sea basin, when the far-field data suggests ice sheet melt was at it maximum. By integrating the already available datasets with newly acquired samples as part of the project, we aim to develop new palaeoenvironmental reconstructions of the Last Interglacial sea-level change from northwest Europe, providing the first chronological constraints on timing, and therefore rates. This has the potential to allow us to &#8216;fingerprint&#8217; the source of melt (Greenland and/or Antarctica) during the interglacial sea-level highstand.

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Late pleistocene sea level change in the Bahamas from mass spectrometric U-series dating of submerged speleothem

Quaternary Science Reviews ◽

10.1016/0277-3791(94)90121-x ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 1-14 ◽

Cited By ~ 47

Author(s):

J. Lundberg ◽

D.C. Ford

Keyword(s):

Sea Level ◽

Late Pleistocene ◽

Sea Level Change ◽

Mass Spectrometric ◽

The Bahamas ◽

Level Change

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Quaternary subsurface geology in the southernmost part of the Ishikari Depression, Hokkaido, Japan: with special reference to the relative sea-level change during the Last Interglacial Age.

The Journal of the Geological Society of Japan ◽

10.5575/geosoc.102.312 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 102 (4) ◽

pp. 312-329 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Tsutomu Konndo ◽

Yaeko Igarashi ◽

Mituo Yoshida ◽

Toshikazu Inoue ◽

Nobuyuki Taira ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Special Reference ◽

Sea Level ◽

Sea Level Change ◽

Last Interglacial ◽

Relative Sea Level ◽

Subsurface Geology ◽

Level Change

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Mapping Sea-Level Change in Time, Space, and Probability

Annual Review of Environment and Resources ◽

10.1146/annurev-environ-102017-025826 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 43 (1) ◽

pp. 481-521 ◽

Cited By ~ 36

Author(s):

Benjamin P. Horton ◽

Robert E. Kopp ◽

Andra J. Garner ◽

Carling C. Hay ◽

Nicole S. Khan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sea Level Rise ◽

Sea Level ◽

Temporal Evolution ◽

Tide Gauge ◽

Sea Level Change ◽

Data Sources ◽

Last Interglacial ◽

Level Change ◽

Time Space ◽

The Future

Future sea-level rise generates hazards for coastal populations, economies, infrastructure, and ecosystems around the world. The projection of future sea-level rise relies on an accurate understanding of the mechanisms driving its complex spatio-temporal evolution, which must be founded on an understanding of its history. We review the current methodologies and data sources used to reconstruct the history of sea-level change over geological (Pliocene, Last Interglacial, and Holocene) and instrumental (tide-gauge and satellite alimetry) eras, and the tools used to project the future spatial and temporal evolution of sea level. We summarize the understanding of the future evolution of sea level over the near (through 2050), medium (2100), and long (post-2100) terms. Using case studies from Singapore and New Jersey, we illustrate the ways in which current methodologies and data sources can constrain future projections, and how accurate projections can motivate the development of new sea-level research questions across relevant timescales.

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