Late Little Ice Age palaeoenvironmental records from the Anzali and Amirkola Lagoons (south Caspian Sea): Vegetation and sea level changes

ABSTRACTNorse immigrants from Europe settled in southern Greenland in around AD 985 and managed to create a farming community during the Medieval Warm Period. The Norse vanished after approximately 500 years of existence in Greenland leaving no documentary evidence concerning why their culture foundered. The flooding of fertile grassland caused by late Holocene sea-level changes may be one of the factors that affected the Norse community. Holocene sea-level changes in Greenland are closely connected with the isostatic response of the Earth's crust to the behaviour of the Greenlandic ice sheet. An early Holocene regressive phase in south and west Greenland was reversed during the middle Holocene, and evidence is found for transgression and drowning of early-middle Holocene coast lines. This drowning started between 8 and 7ka BP in southern Greenland and continued during the Norse era to the present. An average late Holocene sea level rise in the order of 2–3 m/1000 years may be one of the factors that negatively affected the life of the Norse Greenlanders, and combined with other both socio-economic and environmental problems, such as increasing wind and sea ice expansion at the transition to the Little Ice Age, may eventually have led to the end of the Norse culture in Greenland.

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Holocene vegetation history and sea level changes in the SE corner of the Caspian Sea: relevance to SW Asia climate

Quaternary Science Reviews ◽

10.1016/j.quascirev.2013.03.004 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 70 ◽

pp. 28-47 ◽

Cited By ~ 61

Author(s):

Suzanne A.G. Leroy ◽

Ata A. Kakroodi ◽

Salomon Kroonenberg ◽

Hamid K. Lahijani ◽

Habib Alimohammadian ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sea Level ◽

Caspian Sea ◽

Vegetation History ◽

Sea Level Changes ◽

The Caspian Sea ◽

And Sea Level

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Conflicting views on climatic and sea level changes in the south basin of Caspian Sea

Quaternary International ◽

10.1016/j.quaint.2012.08.714 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 279-280 ◽

pp. 277

Author(s):

Suzanne Leroy

Keyword(s):

Sea Level ◽

Caspian Sea ◽

Sea Level Changes ◽

The South ◽

South Basin ◽

And Sea Level

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Sedimentary archives of climate and sea-level changes during the Holocene in the Rhone prodelta (NW Mediterranean Sea)

10.5194/cp-2016-57 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Anne-Sophie Fanget ◽

Maria-Angela Bassetti ◽

Christophe Fontanier ◽

Alina Tudryn ◽

Serge Berné

Keyword(s):

Sea Level ◽

Water Depth ◽

Late Holocene ◽

Ice Age ◽

Sea Level Changes ◽

The Holocene ◽

The Core ◽

Core Site ◽

Nw Mediterranean ◽

And Sea Level

Abstract. A 7.38 m-long sediment core was collected from the eastern part of the Rhone prodelta (NW Mediterranean) at 67 m water depth. A multi-proxy study (sedimentary facies, benthic foraminifera and ostracods, clay mineralogy, and major elements from XRF) provides a multi-decadal to century-scale record of climate and sea-level changes during the Holocene. The early Holocene is marked by alternative silt and clay layers interpreted as distal tempestites deposited in a context of rising sea level. This interval contains shallow infra-littoral benthic meiofauna (e.g. Pontocythere elongata, Elphidium spp., Quinqueloculina lata) and formed between ca. 20 and 50 m water depth. The middle Holocene (ca. 8.3 to 4.5 ka cal. BP), is characterized, at the core site, by a period of sediment starvation (accumulation rate of ca. 0.01 cm yr−1) resulting from the maximum landward shift of the shoreline and the Rhone outlet(s). From a sequence stratigraphic point of view, this condensed interval, about 35 cm-thick, is a Maximum Flooding Surface that can be identified on seismic profiles as the transition between delta retrogradation and delta progradation. It is marked by very distinct changes in all proxy records. Following the stabilization of the global sea level, the late Holocene is marked by the establishment of prodeltaic conditions at the core site, as shown by the lithofacies and by the presence of benthic meiofauna typical of the modern Rhone prodelta (e.g. Valvulineria bradyana, Cassidulina carinata, Bulimina marginata). Several periods of increased fluvial discharge are also emphasized by the presence of species commonly found in brackish and shallow water environments (e.g. Leptocythere). Some of these periods correspond to the multi-decadal to centennial late Holocene humid periods recognized in Europe (i.e. the 2.8 ka event and the Little Ice Age). Two other periods of increased runoffs at ca. 1.3 and 1.1 ka cal. BP are recognized, and are likely to reflect periods of regional climate deterioration that are observed in the Rhone watershed.

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Coupled climate and sea-level changes deduced from Huon Peninsula coral terraces of the last ice age

Earth and Planetary Science Letters ◽

10.1016/s0012-821x(01)00515-5 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 193 (3-4) ◽

pp. 579-587 ◽

Cited By ~ 119

Author(s):

Yusuke Yokoyama ◽

Tezer M. Esat ◽

Kurt Lambeck

Keyword(s):

Sea Level ◽

Ice Age ◽

Sea Level Changes ◽

Last Ice Age ◽

And Sea Level

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Caspian sea-level changes during the last millennium: historical and geological evidence from the south Caspian Sea

Climate of the Past ◽

10.5194/cp-9-1645-2013 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 9 (4) ◽

pp. 1645-1665 ◽

Cited By ~ 43

Author(s):

A. Naderi Beni ◽

H. Lahijani ◽

R. Mousavi Harami ◽

K. Arpe ◽

S. A. G. Leroy ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sea Level ◽

Caspian Sea ◽

Sediment Cores ◽

Ice Age ◽

Last Millennium ◽

Sea Level Changes ◽

The South ◽

Geological Evidence ◽

Base Level ◽

Sea Level Oscillations

Abstract. Historical literature may constitute a valuable source of information to reconstruct sea-level changes. Here, historical documents and geological records have been combined to reconstruct Caspian sea-level (CSL) changes during the last millennium. In addition to a comprehensive literature review, new data from two short sediment cores were obtained from the south-eastern Caspian coast to identify coastal change driven by water-level changes and to compare the results with other geological and historical findings. The overall results indicate a high-stand during the Little Ice Age, up to −21 m (and extra rises due to manmade river avulsion), with a −28 m low-stand during the Medieval Climate Anomaly, while presently the CSL stands at −26.5 m. A comparison of the CSL curve with other lake systems and proxy records suggests that the main sea-level oscillations are essentially paced by solar irradiance. Although the major controller of the long-term CSL changes is driven by climatological factors, the seismicity of the basin creates local changes in base level. These local base-level changes should be considered in any CSL reconstruction.

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Climate, tectonics and beach erosion: the case of Espinho (NW Portuguese coast)

Estudos do Quaternário / Quaternary Studies ◽

10.30893/eq.v0i5.59 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 39-50

Author(s):

Maria da Assunção Araújo

Keyword(s):

Sea Level ◽

Little Ice Age ◽

Beach Erosion ◽

Ice Age ◽

Multiple Time ◽

Sea Level Changes ◽

Relative Sea Level ◽

Portuguese Coast ◽

Level Curves ◽

Summer Temperatures

Sea level is a very changeable surface. Furthermore, the land may also be moving, in a slower rate,generating relative sea level changes. The causes of relative sea level changes are variable, but the onesthat cause more intense variations are related to climate.During Little Ice Age (LIA) Northern Hemisphere's summer temperatures fell significantly below theAD 1961–1990 range. This climate situation was responsible for a greater discharge of rivers, whichcould lead to a greater transportation of sediments to the coastline. During these cold periods, sea levelwas lower than in present time. All this could imply a coastline progradation, with the successiveabandon of older beach ridges, reinforcing the sandy supply for dune building. The coastal situationshould be, in some sense, the opposite of the situations that we face today.In present warm period, rivers carry less sediment than during LIA. Moreover, the recent sea level risecontributes to a coastal migration inlands and the erosion of previous beaches and dunes.Our investigation on ancient marine levels and Holocene cemented dunes suggests that the area nearEsmoriz (20 km south of Porto, NW Portuguese coast) is probably subsiding. This possible subsidence,together with recent sea level rise, induced by the end of LIA, could explain the severe coastal erosionthat is taking place at Espinho area (15 km south of Porto) since the middle of the XIX century.This example shows clearly the complexity of relative sea-level changes. Because of this complexity,sea level curves are not similar worldwide, as they depend on the interference of multiple time-scalesphenomena.

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