Early Silurian sea-level changes

1998 ◽  
Vol 135 (4) ◽  
pp. 447-471 ◽  
Author(s):  
DAVID K. LOYDELL

Global sea-level fluctuated markedly during the early Silurian, probably as a result of the waxing and waning of ice-sheets in the South American portion of Gondwana. The highest sea-levels of the Silurian are recorded by the Telychian upper crispus–lower griestoniensis and spiralis–lower lapworthi biozones. Other highstands occurred in the early Aeronian, during the convolutus Zone (mid Aeronian), guerichi Zone and late turriculatus Zone (early Telychian), and early Sheinwoodian. Low sea-levels characterized much of the argenteus and sedgwickii zones (Aeronian), the utilis Subzone (late guerichi–early turriculatus zones, early Telychian), the late Telychian (commencing in the mid lapworthi Zone) and, after a period of apparently only small amplitude sea-level fluctuations in the late Sheinwoodian and earliest Homerian, the mid–late Homerian, in particular the early nassa Zone. Facies (and faunal) changes in the Lower Silurian do not support the P and S model of Jeppsson and others, but are consistent with the sea-level changes proposed herein. Mid Telychian marine red beds appear to have been deposited during a minor sea-level fall immediately after a period of very high sea-levels, rather than during a transgressive episode as previously suggested. Comparison of the sea-level curve presented herein with those constructed in the past is hampered by the lack of precision currently possible in the correlation of early Silurian deep water (graptolitic) and shallow water (shelly) sequences. Improving the precision of this correlation should be a priority for future research.

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 421-452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lincoln H Pitcher ◽  
Laurence C. Smith

Supraglacial meltwater channels that flow on the surfaces of glaciers, ice sheets, and ice shelves connect ice surface climatology with subglacial processes, ice dynamics, and eustatic sea level changes. Their important role in transferring water and heat across and into ice is currently absent from models of surface mass balance and runoff contributions to global sea level rise. Furthermore, relatively little is known about the genesis, evolution, hydrology, hydraulics, and morphology of supraglacial rivers, and a first synthesis and review of published research on these unusual features is lacking. To that end, we review their ( a) known geographical distribution; ( b) formation, morphology, and sediment transport processes; ( c) hydrology and hydraulics; and ( d) impact on ice sheet surface energy balance, heat exchange, basal conditions, and ice shelf stability. We conclude with a synthesis of key knowledge gaps and provide recommendations for future research. ▪ Supraglacial streams and rivers transfer water and heat on glaciers, connecting climate with subglacial hydrology, ice sliding, and global sea level. ▪ Ice surface melting may expand under a warming climate, darkening the ice surface and further increasing melt.


2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 16663-16704
Author(s):  
S. A. G. Leroy ◽  
H. A. K. Lahijani ◽  
J.-L. Reyss ◽  
F. Chalié ◽  
S. Haghani ◽  
...  

Abstract. We analysed dinoflagellate cyst assemblages in four short sediment cores, two of them dated by radionuclides, taken in the south basin of the Caspian Sea. The interpretation of the four sequences is supported by a collection of 27 lagoonal or marine surface sediment samples. A sharp increase in the biomass of the dinocyst occurs after 1967, especially owing to Lingulodinium machaerophorum. Considering nine other cores covering parts or the whole of Holocene, this species started to develop in the Caspian Sea only during the last three millennia. By analysing instrumental data and collating existing reconstructions of sea level changes over the last few millennia, we show that the main forcing of the increase of L. machaerophorum percentages and of the recent dinocyst abundance is global climate change, especially sea surface temperature increase. Sea level fluctuations likely have a minor impact. We argue that the Caspian Sea has entered the Anthropocene.


2000 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 141 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. ALPAR ◽  
E. DOGAN ◽  
H. YUCE ◽  
H. ALTIOK

Short, tidal, subtidal, seasonal, secular sea-level variations, sea-level differences and interactions between the basins have been studied, based on the data collected at some permanent and temporary tide gauges located along the Turkish coasts, mostly along the Straits connecting the Marmara Sea to outer seas. Even though the deficiency of sufficient information prevented us to reach the desired results, many pre-existed studies have been improved. Short-period oscillations were clearly identified along the Turkish Strait System and related to their natu-ral periods. The tidal amplitudes are low along the Turkish coasts, except northern Aegean and eastern Mediterranean. The stability of harmonic constants of Samsun and Antalya were examined and most of the long period constituents were found to be unstable. Even the Marmara Sea is not affected from the tidal oscillations of Black and Aegean Seas, some interactions in low frequency band have been detected. Subtidal sea level fluctuations (3-14 day) have relations with the large-scale cyclic atmospheric patterns passing over the Turkish Straits System. Short-term effects of wind on sea level are evident.Seasonal sea-level fluctuations along the Turkish Straits System are in accord with Black Sea's hydrological cycle. The differential range of the monthly mean sea levels between the Black Sea and the Marmara Sea is highly variable; high during spring and early summer and low during fall and winter.On the average, there is a pronounced sea-level difference (55 cm) along the Turkish Straits System. However, the slope is nonlinear, being much steeper in the Strait of Istanbul. This barotrophic pressure difference is one of the most important factors causing the two-layer flow through the system. The topography and hydrodynamics of the straits, the dominant wind systems and their seasonal variations make this flow more complicated. For secular sea level changes, a rise of 3.2 mm/a was computed for Karsiyaka (1935-71) and a steady trend (-0.4 mm /a) has been observed for annual sea levels at Antalya (1935-77). The decreasing trend (-6.9 mm/a) at Samsun is contrary to the secular rising trend of the Black Sea probably because of its rather short monitoring period (1963-77).


1983 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 322-341 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel R. Muhs

Global sea-level changes are expressed in the coastal landforms and deposits of northern San Clemente Island. Stratigraphic, radiometric, amino acid, and pedologic dating techniques have allowed the development of a chronology of sea-level changes for about the last 500,000 yr. A uranium-series date on coral of about 127,000 yr for the 2nd terrace serves as a calibration point for amino acid age estimates of four other mapped terraces. Two of these terraces have age estimates of about 80,000–105,000 yr, another has an age estimate of about 127,000 yr, and the 5th terrace on the west side of the island is estimated to be about 415,000–575,000 yr old. These dates correlate reasonably well with marine terraces dated elsewhere and with stages of the oxygen-isotope record that are thought to represent high stands of the sea. Weakly cemented calcareous dune sands (eolianites) are moderately extensive on northern San Clemente Island and appear to represent low stands of the sea, since calcareous shelf sands were the most likely source. A radiocarbon date of about 22,000 yr suggests that the youngest eolianite was deposited during the last glacial maximum. An older eolianite is estimated to be about 140,000–195,000 yr old based on stratigraphic relations and degree of soil development. The suggested ages for the eolianites also correlate well with oxygen-isotope estimates of low sea levels.


2017 ◽  
Vol 79 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Noorzamzarina Sulaiman ◽  
Umar Hamzah ◽  
Abd Rahim Samsudin

This study aims to evaluate the evolution of the channel system in the Pleistocene-Recent succession in the northeast Malay Basin based on channel morphologies. The variable types of channel morphologies were determined from seven seismic time slices of study area. The fluvial channel became wider and low-sinuous when the sea-level rise. Meanwhile, the fluvial channel became narrower and high-sinuous when sea levels decreased. The point bars are seen in the meandering curve of the high-sinuosity channel. This occurred because of the sea-level decrease and more sediment being deposited in the study area. The point bars morphology do not appear in the transgressive event. An oxbow lake appeared in the 525 ms seismic time slice and is labelled as the oldest channel system. The channel morphologies then changed, and the oxbow lake does not appear in the younger system channel (Recent). The channel morphology changes have been proven to be affected by global sea-level changes.


1990 ◽  
Vol 127 (3) ◽  
pp. 225-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Štorch

AbstractUpper Ordovician – lower Silurian sequences of the Bohemian Massif (in the Moldanubian Zone and Barrandian preserved in the Prague Basin; Rožmitál area; metamorphic ‘islets’ in the mantle of Central Bohemian Pluton; and in the Železné hory area), as well as along the northern margin of the Bohemian Massif in the Saxothuringian and Lugian (= West Sudetian) zones, show evidence of regressive–transgressive facies changes which can be related to glacio-eustatic sea-level fluctuations recognized elsewhere. Glacio-marine diamictites of late Ordovician (Hirnantian) age occur in the Prague Basin and Rožmitál area, and in north Bavaria and Thuringia. They provide evidence of temporary cooling of the region. Facies changes caused by synchronous sea-level changes allow stratigraphic correlation of even the faulted, weakly metamorphosed and biostratigraphically poorly dated sections in the Bohemian Massif. Correlation is based on sections in the Prague Basin in which the changes are best recorded and dated.


2013 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Afrânio Rubens de Mesquita ◽  
Alberto Dos Santos Franco ◽  
Joseph Harari ◽  
Carlos Augusto De Sampaio França

ABSTRACT. This is Part II of a contribution on Brazilian sea levels – Part I dealt with the seasonal variability. It examines the sea level changes along the Brazilian coast from series with less than 40 years of measurement, against the background of changes in series of all continents and islands around the world, considering data distributed by the Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level (PSMSL). The method of analysis follows the display of the data in a: 1) first plot of relative sea level trends (C), against the length of the series (L) expressed in years and a: 2) second plot showing the relative sea level regression coefficients (C), versus the corresponding correlation values (m). The first plot of all PSMSL data exhibited a cusped like shape of the distribution of (C), having maxima values about 10-20 cm/cty for the longest series (120-137 years), indicating the overall positive value of the global relative sea level trend. Similar first plot, a regional plot of African and South American data adjusted to the same global relative mean level, showed that the Brazilian trends (C), are mostly concentrated in the positive side of the cusped: (ports of Bel´em, Fortaleza. Recife, Canavieiras, Salvador, Ilha Fiscal, Rio de Janeiro, Ubatuba, Cananeia, and Imbituba) which have a mean value within 30 to 40 cm/cty. The second plot, with all set of PSMSL data, was necessary in order to display trend values of non simultaneous series of different continental borders and lengths in the same bin. The plot gave two different linear inclinations for trend values within ± 0.3 cm/y, in the positive and negative sides of the figure. The global ratio obtained for the trends was R = − 1.2, suggesting also, from the linearity of the plot, that the trends and correlation values are statistically dependent variables. The graph produced a different value for global balance of the value C obtained in the first plot. Similar regional second plot of the African Atlantic and South American borders, which include the Brazilian data, also gave rise to two new regression lines with trend C*1 < 0 and C*2 > 0, with a ratio R = − 2.2, involving bins of m and C values that are also null in the vicinity of zero. This regionally plot confirmed the result of the second plot with PSMSL series that they (C and m), globally, should be dependent statistical variables. These findings, however, do not change the fact that the regional series with trends 0.2 cm/year have correlation values m < 0.3, whatever their lengths, and that the mean value of the relative sea level, along the Brazilian coast, is increasing with an estimated rate of 30 to 40 cm/cty. Further work is under way, aiming at solving the above apparently contradictory results.Keywords: sea level, Brazilian coast, PSMSL series, global relative sea level, imbalance of relative sea level. RESUMO. Esta é a segunda parte de uma contribuição sobre os níveis do mar na costa brasileira – a parte I tratou da variação sazonal – ela examina as mudanças do nível do mar ao longo da costa brasileira a partir de séries com comprimentos menores do que 40 anos contra as variações das séries de todas as ilhas e continentes do globo, levando em conta as séries distribuídas pelo Permanent Service for the Mean Sea Level (PSMSL). A descrição é feita através da exposição dos dados em 1) um gráfico das tendências (C) contra o comprimento das séries (L) em dados anuais e um 2) segundo gráfico mostrando as tendências dos níveis relativos (C) contra os valores dos valores das correlações (m) entre as séries e os dados da sua reta de regressão. O primeiro gráfico com as séries do PSMSL mostrou uma forma de cúspide como distribuição de (C) com valores máximos de cerca de 10-20 cm/século para as séries mais compridas (120-137 anos). Figura semelhante com dados da América do Sul e da África ajustada para essa média, mostra o mesmo padrão (portos de Belém, Fortaleza, Canavieiras, Salvador, Ilha Fiscal, Rio de Janeiro, Ubatuba, Cananeia e Imbituba). O segundo gráfico foi necessário para a análise de séries com comprimentos diversos e não simultâneas como as séries do PSMSL, produziu duas novas retas com inclinações C*1 < 0 e C* > 0 construídas a partir dos valores das tendências C das séries PSMSL, com inclinações dentro da faixa de 0,2 cm/ano na parte positiva e negativa da figura, sugerindo uma não equivalência entre essas inclinações, em favor de valor global negativo de C* para o Nível Relativo do Mar. Figura semelhante produzida com as s´eries Africanas e Sul Americanas, que incluíram as séries brasileiras, mostrou característica similar, além de indicar que séries com tendências ± 0,2 cm/ano têm valores de correlação m < 0,3 qualquer que seja o comprimento da série. Os resultados interessantes, mas contraditórios, que incluem a dependência linear global entre correlação e tendências das séries fornecidas pelo PSMSL, devem ser analisados em continuação aos presentes estudos, que indicam que o nível relativo do mar na costa brasileira está aumentando à razão de 30 a 40 cm/século.Palavras-chave: nível do mar, costa brasileira, séries do PSMSL, nível relativo do mar global, balanço do nível relativo do mar.


GeoArabia ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bilal U. Haq ◽  
Abdul Motaleb Al-Qahtani

ABSTRACT The Arabian Plate has experienced a complex tectonic history while also being widely influenced by eustatic sea-level changes. These diastrophic events either affected changes in the rate and/or location of subsidence that in turn led to the creation of significant new sedimentary accommodation, or caused major erosional hiatuses. As a result, both eustasy and tectonics have played important roles in the development of sedimentary sequences and in determining the locus and characteristics of reservoir, source and seal facies on the Arabian Platform. Here, we present a synthesis (Cycle Chart) of the regional sea-level fluctuations affecting the Platform that is based on Phanerozoic epi- and peri-Platform sequence-stratigraphic data. Information used for the synthesis includes sections from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the Greater Gulf area, Oman and Yemen. The regional Cycle Chart incorporates interpreted sedimentary onlap patterns on the margins of the Arabian Platform, as well as models of regional sea-level fluctuations that controlled these patterns. These are compared to eustatic data that represents the ‘global-mean’ models of sea-level changes, largely at second-order cycle level for the Paleozoic and third-order cycle level for the Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras. The comparisons reveal that Phanerozoic sediment accumulation patterns on the Platform were broadly controlled by eustasy, with a strong overprint of tectonics for several long intervals. During periods of tectonic quiescence, however, correlations with the eustatic events improve significantly. Thus, for example, during the Cambrian through early Silurian and mid Jurassic through early Paleogene intervals eustasy may have been the significant controlling factor for sedimentary patterns when long-term trends in both regional and global sea-level curves show similarities. The use of the Cycle Chart could facilitate exploration efforts on the Arabian Platform, provide better chronostratigraphic estimates and global correlations, and prove a useful accompaniment for sequence-stratigraphic studies. This integrative effort was greatly facilitated by the recent publication of the sequence stratigraphic synthesis of the Arabian Plate. The ages of Maximum Flooding Surfaces, however, have been recalibrated to the new (GTS 2004) time scale. This synthesis also represents a new recalibration of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic eustatic curves of Haq et al. (1988) to an up-to-date numerical time scale (GTS 2004).


1992 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Bradshaw ◽  
J. C. W. Cope ◽  
D. W. Cripps ◽  
D. T. Donovan ◽  
M. K. Howarth ◽  
...  

AbstractThe interplay of regional or global sea-level changes and continuing crustal extension related to rifting in the North Atlantic and Tethyan megarifts dominated the palaeogeographical evolution of the area. The sea-level rise that commenced in the Rhaetian continued into the Jurassic to usher in a new phase of predominantly marine sedimentation across northwest Europe. The climate was warm and humid, the seas generally shallow. Land areas became well vegetated, as attested by the abundance of fossil driftwood in marine as well as non-marine sediments. The region probably lay about 10° south of present latitudes, in an area of overlap of Tethyan and Boreal marine realms. For much of the Jurassic, sea levels continued to rise but two major falls occurred, coinciding with accelerated extensional movements in the area. The first was during the mid-Jurassic ('mid-Cimmerian phase') when there was a major regional upwarp centred on the North Sea, and the second across the Jurassic/Cretaceous boundary ('late Cimmerian phase') when a global fall in sea level coincided with an important phase of rifting and block faulting. Major structural trends generally follow previously established lines. The basic structural framework for the Jurassic maps has been compiled from numerous sources, including Andrews &Brown (1987); Dunning (1985); Evans et al. (1982); Gardiner &Sheridan (1981); Van Hoorn (1987); Thomas et al. (1985); Whittaker (1985); Ziegler (1982, 1987); and papers in Brooks &Glennie (1987). Fault trends are generalized and selected to pick out the main structural features controlling the geography; their occurrence on


2012 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 439-461 ◽  
Author(s):  
Przemysław Gedl

ABSTRACT Gedl, P. 2012. Organic-walled dinoflagellate cysts from the Bathonian ore-bearing clays at Gnaszyn, Kraków- Silesia Homocline, Poland - a palaeoenvironmental approach. Acta Geologica Polonica, 62 (3), 439-461. Warszawa. A succession of Middle-Upper Bathonian (Subcontractus-Retrocostatum zones) ore-bearing clays exposed at Gnaszyn has been investigated for the presence of dinoflagellate cysts. The assemblages are dominated by Ctenidodinium. However, analysis of diversity shows some subtle differences throughout the succession, possibly related to the palaeoenvironmental conditions in the photic zone. Impoverished assemblages, dominated by Ctenidodinium, occur mainly in monotonous muddy intervals. More diverse assemblages, albeit also dominated by Ctenidodinium, occur in intervals which contain siderite concretion levels. The taxonomic composition of the former assemblage seems to reflect slightly restricted conditions in the photic zone, possibly related to a minor reduction in salinity and/or increase in nutrient availability. More diverse dinoflagellate cyst assemblages reflect periods of less intense terrigenous influx and relatively higher, possibly normal, salinity. These changes were possibly caused by variable intensity of freshwater influx into the basin, controlled by sea-level fluctuations. Sea-level changes may be related to migrations of Tethyan water masses, which were probably partly responsible for the composition of the dinoflagellate cyst assemblages.


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