The archaeological ensemble from Campoverde (Agro Pontino, central Italy): new constraints on the Last Interglacial sea level markers

The Gulf of La Spezia (GLS) in Northwest Italy is a rocky embayment with low fluvial influence facing the Mediterranean Sea. Past landscape dynamics were investigated through a multi-proxy, facies-based analysis down to a core depth of 30 m. The integration of quantitative ostracod, foraminifera, and pollen analyses, supported by radiocarbon ages, proved to be a powerful tool to unravel the late Quaternary palaeoenvironmental evolution and its forcing factors. The complex interplay between relative sea-level (RSL), climatic changes, and geomorphological features of the embayment drove four main evolution phases. A barrier–lagoon system developed in response to the rising RSL of the Late Pleistocene (likely the Last Interglacial). The establishment of glacial conditions then promoted the development of an alluvial environment, with generalised erosion of the underlying succession and subsequent accumulation of fluvial strata. The Holocene transgression (dated ca. 9000 cal year BP) caused GLS inundation and the formation of a low-confined lagoon basin, which rapidly turned into a coastal bay from ca. 8000 cal year BP onwards. This latter environmental change occurred in response to the last Holocene stage of global sea-level acceleration, which submerged a morphological relief currently forming a drowned barrier-island complex in the embayment.

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Phytoplankton response and geochemical evidence of the lower Toarcian relative sea level rise in the Umbria-Marche basin (Central Italy)

Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology ◽

10.1016/s0031-0182(97)00152-1 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 142 (1-2) ◽

pp. 33-50 ◽

Cited By ~ 42

Author(s):

Raffaella Bucefalo Palliani ◽

Simonetta Cirilli ◽

Emanuela Mattioli

Keyword(s):

Sea Level Rise ◽

Sea Level ◽

Central Italy ◽

Relative Sea Level ◽

Geochemical Evidence ◽

Relative Sea Level Rise

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Sedimentology, faunal content and pollen record of Middle Pleistocene palustrine and lagoonal sediments from the Peri-Adriatic basin, Abruzzi, eastern central Italy

Quaternary Research ◽

10.1016/j.yqres.2016.08.003 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 86 (3) ◽

pp. 359-372 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Pierluigi Pieruccini ◽

Claudio Di Celma ◽

Federico Di Rita ◽

Donatella Magri ◽

Giorgio Carnevale ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Shallow Water ◽

Sea Level ◽

Central Italy ◽

Freshwater Wetlands ◽

Middle Pleistocene ◽

Pollen Record ◽

Vegetation Development ◽

Oxygen Isotope Stage ◽

Open Forest ◽

Facies Succession

AbstractA 25 m-thick outcrop section exposed at Torre Mucchia, on the sea-cliff north of Ortona, eastern central Italy, comprises a rare Middle Pleistocene succession of shallow-water and paralic sediments along the western Adriatic Sea. An integrated study of the section, including facies and microfacies analyses, and characterization of paleobiological associations (mollusks, fishes, ostracods, foraminifers and pollen), enable a detailed reconstruction of the paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic conditions during deposition. The shallow-water deposits include a transgressive, deepening- and fining-upward shoreface to offshore-transition facies succession overlain by a regressive shoreface-foreshore sandstone body with an erosive base and a rooted and pedogenically altered horizon at the top that imply deposition during sea-level fall. This forced regressive unit is overlain by paralic strata forming a transgressive succession comprising palustrine carbonates and back-barrier lagoonal mudstones. The palustrine carbonates exhibit some of the typical features encountered in palustrine limestones deposited within seasonal freshwater wetlands (marl prairies). Following the sea-level rising trend, the freshwater marshes were abruptly replaced by a barrier-lagoon system that allowed deposition of the overlying mud-rich unit. Within these deposits, the faunal assemblages are consistent with a low-energy brackish environment characterized by a relatively high degree of confinement. The pollen record documents the development of open forest vegetation dominated by Pinus and accompanied by a number of mesophilous and thermophilous tree taxa, whose composition supports a tentative correlation with Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 17. The new pollen record from Torre Mucchia improves our understanding of the vegetation development in the Italian Peninsula during the Middle Pleistocene and sheds new light on the role played by the most marked glacial periods in determining the history of tree taxa.

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Erratum: Corrigendum: Bipolar seesaw control on last interglacial sea level

Nature ◽

10.1038/nature14960 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 526 (7571) ◽

pp. 144-144

Author(s):

G. Marino ◽

E. J. Rohling ◽

L. Rodríguez-Sanz ◽

K. M. Grant ◽

D. Heslop ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sea Level ◽

Last Interglacial

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WALIS - Towards a global database of Last Interglacial sea-level proxies.

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-9827 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Alessio Rovere ◽

Deirdre Ryan ◽

Matteo Vacchi ◽

Alexander Simms ◽

Andrea Dutton ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sea Level ◽

Research Council ◽

Geological Data ◽

Sea Level Changes ◽

Last Interglacial ◽

Global Database ◽

The World ◽

First Results ◽

Data Points ◽

The Subject

<p>The standardization of geological data, and their compilation into geodatabases, is essential to allow more coherent regional and global analyses. In sea-level studies, the compilation of databases containing details on geological paleo sea-level proxies has been the subject of decades of work. This was largely spearheaded by the community working on Holocene timescales. While several attempts were also made to compile data from older interglacials, a truly comprehensive approach was missing. Here, we present the ongoing efforts directed to create the World Atlas of Last Interglacial Shorelines (WALIS), a project spearheaded by the PALSEA (PAGES/INQUA) community and funded by the European Research Council (ERC StG 802414). The project aims at building a sea-level database centered on the Last Interglacial (Marine Isotope Stage 5e, 125 ka), a period of time considered as an "imperfect analog" for a future warmer climate. The database is composed of 17 tables embedded into a mySQL framework with a total of more than 500 single fields to describe several properties related to paleo sea-level proxies, dated samples and metadata. In this presentation, we will show the first results of the global compilation, which includes nearly 2000 data points and will discuss its relevance in answering some of the most pressing questions related to sea-level changes in past warmer worlds.&#160;</p>

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Last Interglacial climate and sea-level evolution from a coupled ice sheet–climate model

Climate of the Past ◽

10.5194/cp-12-2195-2016 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 12 (12) ◽

pp. 2195-2213 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Heiko Goelzer ◽

Philippe Huybrechts ◽

Marie-France Loutre ◽

Thierry Fichefet

Keyword(s):

Surface Temperature ◽

Sea Level ◽

Ice Sheets ◽

Ice Sheet ◽

Greenland Ice Sheet ◽

Last Interglacial ◽

A Minor ◽

The Antarctic ◽

The Impact ◽

And Sea Level

Abstract. As the most recent warm period in Earth's history with a sea-level stand higher than present, the Last Interglacial (LIG, ∼  130 to 115 kyr BP) is often considered a prime example to study the impact of a warmer climate on the two polar ice sheets remaining today. Here we simulate the Last Interglacial climate, ice sheet, and sea-level evolution with the Earth system model of intermediate complexity LOVECLIM v.1.3, which includes dynamic and fully coupled components representing the atmosphere, the ocean and sea ice, the terrestrial biosphere, and the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. In this setup, sea-level evolution and climate–ice sheet interactions are modelled in a consistent framework.Surface mass balance change governed by changes in surface meltwater runoff is the dominant forcing for the Greenland ice sheet, which shows a peak sea-level contribution of 1.4 m at 123 kyr BP in the reference experiment. Our results indicate that ice sheet–climate feedbacks play an important role to amplify climate and sea-level changes in the Northern Hemisphere. The sensitivity of the Greenland ice sheet to surface temperature changes considerably increases when interactive albedo changes are considered. Southern Hemisphere polar and sub-polar ocean warming is limited throughout the Last Interglacial, and surface and sub-shelf melting exerts only a minor control on the Antarctic sea-level contribution with a peak of 4.4 m at 125 kyr BP. Retreat of the Antarctic ice sheet at the onset of the LIG is mainly forced by rising sea level and to a lesser extent by reduced ice shelf viscosity as the surface temperature increases. Global sea level shows a peak of 5.3 m at 124.5 kyr BP, which includes a minor contribution of 0.35 m from oceanic thermal expansion. Neither the individual contributions nor the total modelled sea-level stand show fast multi-millennial timescale variations as indicated by some reconstructions.

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Greenland ice sheet contribution to sea level rise during the last interglacial period: a modelling study driven and constrained by ice core data

Climate of the Past ◽

10.5194/cp-9-353-2013 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

pp. 353-366 ◽

Cited By ~ 42

Author(s):

A. Quiquet ◽

C. Ritz ◽

H. J. Punge ◽

D. Salas y Mélia

Keyword(s):

Sea Level Rise ◽

Sea Level ◽

Ice Core ◽

Ice Sheet ◽

Greenland Ice Sheet ◽

Interglacial Period ◽

Last Interglacial ◽

Intergovernmental Panel ◽

Orbital Configuration ◽

Global Sea Level

Abstract. As pointed out by the forth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC-AR4 (Meehl et al., 2007), the contribution of the two major ice sheets, Antarctica and Greenland, to global sea level rise, is a subject of key importance for the scientific community. By the end of the next century, a 3–5 °C warming is expected in Greenland. Similar temperatures in this region were reached during the last interglacial (LIG) period, 130–115 ka BP, due to a change in orbital configuration rather than to an anthropogenic forcing. Ice core evidence suggests that the Greenland ice sheet (GIS) survived this warm period, but great uncertainties remain about the total Greenland ice reduction during the LIG. Here we perform long-term simulations of the GIS using an improved ice sheet model. Both the methodologies chosen to reconstruct palaeoclimate and to calibrate the model are strongly based on proxy data. We suggest a relatively low contribution to LIG sea level rise from Greenland melting, ranging from 0.7 to 1.5 m of sea level equivalent, contrasting with previous studies. Our results suggest an important contribution of the Antarctic ice sheet to the LIG highstand.

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