scholarly journals An introduction to causes and consequences of Cretaceous sea-level changes (IGCP 609)

2019 ◽  
Vol 498 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Wagreich ◽  
Benjamin Sames ◽  
Malcolm Hart ◽  
Ismail O. Yilmaz
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Sea Level Changes ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Sea Level Fluctuations ◽  
Groundwater Aquifer ◽  
Sea Level Oscillations ◽  
Short And Long Term ◽  
Geological Timescale ◽  
Land Water

AbstractThe International Geoscience Programme Project IGCP 609 addressed correlation, causes and consequences of short-term sea-level fluctuations during the Cretaceous. Processes causing several ka to several Ma (third- to fourth-order) sea-level oscillations during the Cretaceous are so far poorly understood. IGCP 609 proved the existence of sea-level cycles during potential ice sheet-free greenhouse to hothouse climate phases. These sea-level fluctuations were most probably controlled by aquifer-eustasy that is altering land-water storage owing to groundwater aquifer charge and discharge. The project investigated Cretaceous sea-level cycles in detail in order to differentiate and quantify both short- and long-term records based on orbital cyclicity. High-resolution sea-level records were correlated to the geological timescale resulting in a hierarchy of sea-level cycles in the longer Milankovitch band, especially in the 100 ka, 405 ka, 1.2 Ma and 2.4 Ma range. The relation of sea-level highs and lows to palaeoclimate events, palaeoenvironments and biota was also investigated using multiproxy studies. For a hothouse Earth such as the mid-Cretaceous, humid–arid climate cycles controlling groundwater-related sea-level change were evidenced by stable isotope data, correlation to continental lake-level records and humid–arid weathering cycles.

scholarly journals Short-Term Sea Level Changes of the Upper Cretaceous Carbonates: Calibration between Palynomorphs Composition, Inorganic Geochemistry, and Stable Isotopes

Minerals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 1099
Author(s):  
Ahmed Mansour ◽  
Thomas Gentzis ◽  
Michael Wagreich ◽  
Sameh S. Tahoun ◽  
Ashraf M.T. Elewa
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Freshwater Algae ◽  
Sea Level Changes ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Sea Level Oscillations ◽  
Rising Sea Level ◽  
Southern Tethys

Widespread deposition of pelagic-hemipelagic sediments provide an archive for the Late Cretaceous greenhouse that triggered sea level oscillations. Global distribution of dinoflagellate cysts (dinocysts) exhibited a comparable pattern to the eustatic sea level, and thus, considered reliable indicators for sea level and sequence stratigraphic reconstructions. Highly diverse assemblage of marine palynomorphs along with elemental proxies that relate to carbonates and siliciclastics and bulk carbonate δ13C and δ18O from the Upper Cretaceous Abu Roash A Member were used to reconstruct short-term sea level oscillations in the Abu Gharadig Basin, southern Tethys. Additionally, we investigated the relationship between various palynological, elemental, and isotope geochemistry parameters and their response to sea level changes and examined the link between these sea level changes and Late Cretaceous climate. This multiproxy approach revealed that a long-term sea-level rise, interrupted by minor short-term fall, was prevalent during the Coniacian-earliest Campanian in the southern Tethys, which allowed to divide the studied succession into four complete and two incomplete 3rd order transgressive-regressive sequences. Carbon and oxygen isotopes of bulk hemipelagic carbonates were calibrated with gonyaulacoids and freshwater algae (FWA)-pteridophyte spores and results showed that positive δ13Ccarb trends were consistent, in part, with excess gonyaulacoid dinocysts and reduced FWA-spores, reinforcing a rising sea level and vice versa. A reverse pattern was shown between the δ18Ocarb and gonyaulacoid dinocysts, where negative δ18Ocarb trends were slightly consistent with enhanced gonyaulacoid content, indicating a rising sea level and vice versa. However, stable isotope trends were not in agreement with palynological calibrations at some intervals. Therefore, the isotope records can be used as reliable indicators for reconstructing changes in long-term sea level rather than short-term oscillations.

scholarly journals About this title - Cretaceous Climate Events and Short-Term Sea-Level Changes

10.1144/sp498 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 498 (1) ◽  
pp. NP-NP
Author(s):  
M. Wagreich ◽  
M. Hart ◽  
B. Sames ◽  
I. O. Yilmaz
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Sea Level Changes ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Deep Time ◽  
Sea Level Fluctuations ◽  
Geological Processes ◽  
Stratigraphic Framework ◽  
Geological Timescale

Sea-level constitutes a critical planetary boundary for both geological processes and human life. Sea-level fluctuations during major greenhouse phases are still enigmatic and widely discussed in terms of changing climate systems. The geological record of the Cretaceous greenhouse period provides a deep-time view on greenhouse-phase Earth system processes that facilitates a much better understanding of the causes and consequences of global, geologically short-term, sea-level changes. In particular, Cretaceous hothouse periods can serve as a laboratory to better understand a near-future greenhouse Earth. This volume presents high-resolution sea-level records from globally distributed sedimentary archives of the Cretaceous involving a large group of scientists from the International Geoscience Programme IGCP 609. Marine to non-marine sedimentary successions were analysed for revised age constraints, the correlation of global palaeoclimate shifts and sea-level changes, tested for climate-driven cyclicities, and correlated within a high-resolution stratigraphic framework of the Geological Timescale. For hothouse periods, the hypothesis of significant global groundwater-related sea-level change, i.e. aquifer-eustasy as a major process, is reviewed and substantiated.

scholarly journals Aquifer-eustasy as the main driver of short-term sea-level fluctuations during Cretaceous hothouse climate phases

2019 ◽  
Vol 498 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Sames ◽  
M. Wagreich ◽  
C. P. Conrad ◽  
S. Iqbal
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Phase Relationship ◽  
Sea Level Changes ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Groundwater Levels ◽  
Sequence Stratigraphic ◽  
Sea Level Fluctuations ◽  
Minimum Estimate ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Continental Ice Sheets

AbstractA review of short-term (<3 myr: c. 100 kyr to 2.4 myr) Cretaceous sea-level fluctuations of several tens of metres indicates recent fundamental progress in understanding the underlying mechanisms for eustasy, both in timing and in correlation. Cretaceous third- and fourth-order hothouse sea-level changes, the sequence-stratigraphic framework, are linked to Milankovitch-type climate cycles, especially the longer-period sequence-building bands of 405 kyr and 1.2 myr. In the absence of continental ice sheets during Cretaceous hothouse phases (e.g. Cenomanian–Turonian), growing evidence indicates groundwater-related sea-level cycles: (1) the existence of Milankovitch-type humid-arid climate oscillations, proven via intense humid weathering records during times of regression and sea-level lowstands; (2) missing or inverse relationships of sea-level and the marine δ18O archives, i.e. the lack of a pronounced positive excursion, cooling signal during sea-level lowstands; and (3) the anti-phase relationship of sea and lake levels, attesting to high groundwater levels and charged continental aquifers during sea-level lowstands. This substantiates the aquifer-eustasy hypothesis. Rates of aquifer-eustatic sea-level change remain hard to decipher; however, reconstructions range from a very conservative minimum estimate of 0.04 mm a−1 (longer time intervals) to 0.7 mm a−1 (shorter, probably asymmetric cycles). Remarkably, aquifer-eustasy is recognized as a significant component for the Anthropocene sea-level budget.

scholarly journals Multiple Submerged Tidal Notches: A Witness of Sequences of Coseismic Subsidence in the Aegean Sea, Greece

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 426
Author(s):  
Anna Karkani ◽  
Niki Evelpidou
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Aegean Sea ◽  
Sea Level Changes ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Aegean Region ◽  
Return Times ◽  
Average Return ◽  
Coseismic Subsidence

In some islands of the Aegean, there is evidence of the occurrence of repeated rapid subsidences during the Late Holocene. In this paper, the shape of tidal notches that may be well-preserved underwater is recalled in order to reconstruct sequences of coseismic subsidences and other relative sea-level changes, which occurred during, at least, the last few millennia. A reanalysis of the published measurements of submerged tidal notches in several islands reveals that subsidence trends in many areas of the Aegean are not continuous with gradual movement but, also, are the result of repeated coseismic vertical subsidences of some decimetres at each time. The estimated average return times are of the order of approximately some centuries to one millennium. Although the results cannot be used for short-term predictions of earthquakes, they may provide useful indications on the long-term tectonic trends that are active in the Aegean region.

Glacial-driven sea-level changes in the Late Triassic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meng Wang ◽  
Mingsong Li ◽  
David B. Kemp ◽  
Slah Boulila
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Lake Level ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Late Triassic ◽  
Sea Level Changes ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Noise Modeling ◽  
Austrian Alps ◽  
Groundwater Aquifer ◽  
Newark Basin

&lt;p&gt;Projecting future anthropogenic sea-level rise requires a comprehensive understanding of the mechanistic links between climate and short-term sea-level changes under a warming climate. Two different hypotheses, glacioeustasy and groundwater aquifer eustasy, have been proposed to explain short-term, high amplitude sea-level oscillations during past greenhouse intervals. However, the aquifer eustasy hypothesis &amp;#8211; supported by subjective evidence of sequence stratigraphy in the Late Triassic greenhouse, has never been rigorously tested. Here we test these competing hypotheses using a recently proposed, objective approach of sedimentary noise modeling for both sea- and lake-level reconstructions for the first time. Sedimentation rate estimates and astronomical calibration of multiple paleoclimate proxies from the lacustrine Newark Basin and the marine Austrian Alps enable the construction of a highly resolved astronomical time scale for the Late Triassic. Using this timescale, sedimentary noise modeling for both lacustrine and marine successions is carried out through the Late Triassic. Lake level fluctuations reconstructed by sedimentary noise modeling and principal component analysis revealed that million-year scale lake-level variations were linked to astronomical forcing with periods of ~3.3 Myr, ~1.8 Myr, and ~1.2 Myr. Our objective water-depth reconstructions demonstrate that lake-level variations in the Newark Basin correlate with sea-level changes in the Austrian Alps, rejecting the aquifer eustasy hypothesis and supporting glacioeustasy as the sea-level driver for the Late Triassic. This study thus emphasizes the importance of high-resolution, objective reconstruction of sea- and lake-levels and supports the hypothesis that fluctuations in continental ice mass drove sea-level changes during the Late Triassic greenhouse.&lt;/p&gt;

Sea-level Oscillations along the Australian Coast

1979 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 295 ◽  
Author(s):  
DG Provis ◽  
R Radok
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Tide Gauges ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Sea Level Oscillations ◽  
Sea Level Variations ◽  
Long Term Variations

Sea level variations along Australia's coast were studied using records from tide gauges. The records were filtered to obtain two sets of time series, the short-term variations with periods between 1 and 20 days and the long-term variations with periods between 20 and 365 days. The coherence of the variations over long distances is noted and their magnitude is discussed with reference to possible causes.

scholarly journals The last interglacial sea-level high stand on the southern Cape coastline of South Africa

2010 ◽  
Vol 73 (2) ◽  
pp. 351-363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew S. Carr ◽  
Mark D. Bateman ◽  
David L. Roberts ◽  
Colin V. Murray-Wallace ◽  
Zenobia Jacobs ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Sea Level Changes ◽  
Last Interglacial ◽  
Amino Acid Racemization ◽  
Sea Level Fluctuations ◽  
Optical Luminescence ◽  
Marine Facies ◽  
Age Constraints

The continental margin of southern South Africa exhibits an array of emergent marginal marine sediments permitting the reconstruction of long-term eustatic sea-level changes. We report a suite of optical luminescence ages and supplementary amino acid racemization data, which provide paleosea-level index points for three sites on this coastline. Deposits in the Swartvlei and Groot Brak estuaries display tidal inlet facies overlain by shoreface or eolian facies. Contemporary facies relations suggest a probable high stand 6.0-8.5 m above modern sea level (amsl). At Cape Agulhas, evidence of a past sea-level high stand comprises a gravel beach (ca. 3.8 m amsl) and an overlying sandy shoreface facies (up to 7.5 m amsl). OSL ages between 138±7 ka and 118±7 ka confirm a last interglacial age for all marginal marine facies. The high stand was followed by a sea-level regression that was associated with the accumulation of eolian dunes dating to between 122±7 ka and 113±6 ka. These data provide the first rigorous numerical age constraints for last interglacial sea-level fluctuations in this region, revealing the timing and elevation of the last interglacial high stand to broadly mirror a number of other far-field locations.

scholarly journals Reconstruction of Caspian Sea-Level Fluctuations: Radiocarbon Dating Coastal and Bottom Deposits

Radiocarbon ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 409-420 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu. A. Karpytchev
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Salt Marshes ◽  
Caspian Sea ◽  
Climatic Changes ◽  
Short Term ◽  
The Caspian Sea ◽  
Sea Level Fluctuations ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Basin Area

Owing to the large basin area of the Caspian Sea, fluctuations in its level reflect climatic changes in the northern hemisphere. To reconstruct these fluctuations, I collected mollusk shells, plant debris, carbonates and organic matter samples for 14C dating from deposits of ancient salt marshes, depressions and bars formed during significant sea-level decline. I studied the impact of eolian sedimentation via parallel dating of carbonates and other materials. The data demonstrate that sea level rises during periods of cooling and falls during warming periods; this is true for both long-term (2–2.5 ka) and short-term climatic changes.

Mode d'empilement et distorsion de sequences genetiques en milieu marin restreint; facies et architecture des depots hettangiens du sud-ouest du bassin de Paris

2000 ◽  
Vol 171 (3) ◽  
pp. 341-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gilles Merzeraud ◽  
Raymond Rauscher ◽  
Michel Hoffert ◽  
Francois Verdier
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Paris Basin ◽  
Sea Level Fluctuations ◽  
Marine Deposits ◽  
Geometric Patterns ◽  
Sea Level Oscillations ◽  
Genetic Sequences ◽  
Stacking Patterns ◽  
Eustatic Fluctuations

Abstract In the southwestern part of the Paris Basin (Sologne region), dolomite and limestone deposits of Hettangian age represent an excellent cover for a thick sandstone reservoir, which is being worked by "Gaz de France" for natural gas storage in underground aquifers. The "genetic sequences" of these shallow marine deposits and their stacking patterns are associated with two orders of relative sea-level fluctuations. The thinnest genetic sequences are arranged in transgressive/regressive hemicycles that include distinct facies assemblages. The facies changes are related to rapid palaeogeographic variations that occur during the onset of each genetic sequence. On a different scale, the stacked genetic sequences are organized into three geometric patterns, which are related to long-term eustatic fluctuations (eg. aggradational, retrogradational, and progradational patterns). For each of these stacked geometries, the partitioning of sediment volumes, the degree of symmetry, and the two-dimensional architecture of the genetic sequences had been modified through time. These changes are related to the effects of two superimposed short-term and long-term sea-level oscillations that distort the stratigraphic record.

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