scholarly journals A Review of MIS 5e Sea-level Proxies around Japan

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evan Tam ◽  
Yusuke Yokoyama

Abstract. Sea-level proxies for Marine Isotopic Stage 5e (MIS 5e, ca. 124 ka) are abundant along the Japanese shoreline, and have been documented for over at least the last 60 years. The bulk of these sea-level proxies are identified in Japan as marine terraces, often correlated by stratigraphic relationships to identified tephra layers, or other chronologically interpreted strata. Use of stratigraphic correlation in conjunction with other techniques such as paleontological analysis, tectonic uplift rates, tephra (volcanic ash), Uranium-Thorium (U/Th), Carbon-14 (14C), and Optically Stimulated Luminesce (OSL) dating techniques have connected Japan’s landforms to global patterns of sea-level change. This paper reviews over 60 years of publications containing sea-level proxies correlated to forming during MIS 5e in Japan. Data collected for this review have been added to the World Atlas of Last Interglacial Shorelines (WALIS), following their standardizations on the elements necessary to analyze paleo sea-levels. This paper reviewed over 70 studies, assembling data points for 300+ locations and examining related papers denoting sea-level indicators for MIS 5e. The database compiled for this review review (Tam and Yokoyama, 2020) is available at: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4294326 .

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1477-1497
Author(s):  
Evan Tam ◽  
Yusuke Yokoyama

Abstract. Sea-level proxies for Marine Isotopic Stage 5e (MIS 5e, ca. 124 ka) are abundant along the Japanese shoreline and have been documented for over at least the past 60 years. The bulk of these sea-level proxies are identified in Japan as marine terraces, often correlated by stratigraphic relationships to identified tephra layers, or other chronologically interpreted strata. Use of stratigraphic correlation in conjunction with other techniques such as paleontological analysis, tectonic uplift rates, tephra (volcanic ash), uranium–thorium (U–Th), and carbon-14 (14C) dating have connected Japan's landforms to global patterns of sea-level change. This paper reviews over 60 years of publications containing sea-level proxies correlated with MIS 5e in Japan. Data collected for this review have been added to the World Atlas of Last Interglacial Shorelines (WALIS), following their standardizations on the elements necessary to analyze paleosea-levels. This paper reviewed over 70 studies, assembling data points for over 300 locations and examining related papers denoting sea-level indicators for MIS 5e. The database compiled for this review (Tam and Yokoyama, 2020) is available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4294326. Sea-level proxy studies in Japan rely heavily on chronostratigraphic techniques and are recognized as reliable, though opportunities exist for further constraining through the further use of numerical age dating techniques.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Woo Hun Ryang ◽  
Alexander R. Simms ◽  
Hyun Ho Yoon ◽  
Seung Soo Chun ◽  
Gee Soo Kong

Abstract. Like most of the world’s coastlines, the Korean Peninsula experienced higher-than-present sea levels during the Last Interglacial (LIG) otherwise known as Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5e. However, the expression of that highstand in sea levels differs across the eastern and western Korean Peninsula. The active east coast of the Korean Peninsula is characterized by broad uplifted marine terraces, while the stable west coast is characterized by tidal flats and rias. In this study, we used a standardized database template to review and extract the existing constraints on LIG sea levels along both the east and west coasts of the Korean Peninsula. A total of 62 LIG constraining data points were compiled including 34 sea-level indicators, 22 marine limiting records, and 6 terrestrial limiting records. The ages from these data points are based on 61 optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) measurements and 1 paleomagnetic-based age. Along the uplifted east coast, LIG sea-level indicators based on marine terraces are at elevations ranging from +9 to +32 m. The uplifted marine terraces are cut or otherwise deformed by faults developed under a compressional regime due to backarc closing of the East Sea since the early Pliocene. As a result, tectonic uplift likely contaminates the elevation of the east coast LIG shorelines. On the contrary, LIG sea-level constraints on the west coast of the Korean Peninsula are found at heights of between +2 and +5 m and include marine and terrestrial limiting records as well as true sea-level indicators. The LIG sea-level constraints along the west coast of the Korean Peninsula are likely uncontaminated by vertical movement or experienced minor subsidence during the Quaternary.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca C Malatesta ◽  
Noah J. Finnegan ◽  
Kimberly Huppert ◽  
Emily Carreño

<p>Marine terraces are a cornerstone for the study of paleo sea level and crustal deformation. Commonly, individual erosive marine terraces are attributed to unique sea level high-stands. This stems from early reasoning that marine platforms could only be significantly widened under moderate rates of sea level rise as at the beginning of an interglacial and preserved onshore by subsequent sea level fall. However, if marine terraces are only created during brief windows at the start of interglacials, this implies that terraces are unchanged over the vast majority of their evolution, despite an often complex submergence history during which waves are constantly acting on the coastline, regardless of the sea level stand.<span> </span></p><p>Here, we question the basic assumption that individual marine terraces are uniquely linked to distinct sea level high stands and highlight how a single marine terrace can be created By reoccupation of the same uplifting platform by successive sea level stands. We then identify the biases that such polygenetic terraces can introduce into relative sea level reconstructions and inferences of rock uplift rates from marine terrace chronostratigraphy.</p><p>Over time, a terrace’s cumulative exposure to wave erosion depends on the local rock uplift rate. Faster rock uplift rates lead to less frequent (fewer reoccupations) or even single episodes of wave erosion of an uplifting terrace and the generation and preservation of numerous terraces. Whereas slower rock uplift rates lead to repeated erosion of a smaller number of polygenetic terraces. The frequency and duration of terrace exposure to wave erosion at sea level depend strongly on rock uplift rate.</p><p>Certain rock uplift rates may therefore promote the generation and preservation of particular terraces (e.g. those eroded during recent interglacials). For example, under a rock uplift rate of ca. 1.2 mm/yr, Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5e (ca. 120 ka) would resubmerge a terrace eroded ca. 50 kyr earlier for tens of kyr during MIS 6d–e stages (ca. 190–170 ka) and expose it to further wave erosion at sea level. This reoccupation could accordingly promote the formation of a particularly wide or well planed terrace associated with MIS 5e with a greater chance of being preserved and identified. This effect is potentially illustrated by a global compilation of rock uplift rates derived from MIS 5e terraces. It shows an unusual abundance of marine terraces documenting uplift rates between 0.8 and 1.2 mm/yr, supporting the hypothesis that these uplift rates promote exposure of the same terrace to wave erosion during multiple sea level stands.</p><p>Hence, the elevations and widths of terraces eroded during specific sea level stands vary widely from site-to-site and depend on local rock uplift rate. Terraces do not necessarily correspond to an elevation close to that of the latest sea level high-stand but may reflect the elevation of an older, longer-lived, occupation. This leads to potential misidentification of terraces if each terrace in a sequence is assumed to form uniquely at successive interglacial high stands and to reflect their elevations.</p>


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deirdre D. Ryan ◽  
Alastair J. H. Clement ◽  
Nathan R. Jankowski ◽  
Paolo Stocchi

Abstract. This paper presents the current state-of-knowledge of the New Zealand (Aotearoa) last interglacial (MIS 5 sensu lato) sea-level record compiled within the framework of the World Atlas of Last Interglacial Shorelines (WALIS) database. Seventy-seven total relative sea-level (RSL) indicators (direct, marine-, and terrestrial-limiting points), commonly in association with marine terraces, were identified from over 120 studies reviewed. Extensive coastal deformation around New Zealand has resulted in a significant range of elevation measurements on both the North Island (276.8 to −94.2 msl) and South Island (173.1 to −70.0 msl) and prompted the use of RSL indicators to estimate rates of vertical land movement; however, indicators lack adequate description and age constraint. Identified RSL indicators are correlated with MIS 5, MIS 5e, MIS 5c, and MIS 5a and indicate the potential for the New Zealand sea-level record to inform sea-level fluctuation and climatic change within MIS 5 (sensu lato). The Northland (North Island) and Otago (South Island) regions, historically considered stable, have the potential to provide a regional sea-level curve in a remote location of the South Pacific across broad degrees of latitude. Future work requires modern analogue information, heights above a defined sea-level datum, better stratigraphic descriptions, and use of improved geochronological methods. The database presented in this study is available open-access at this link: http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4056376 (Ryan et al., 2020a).


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 4313-4329
Author(s):  
Kathrine Maxwell ◽  
Hildegard Westphal ◽  
Alessio Rovere

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).


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 953-968
Author(s):  
J. Andrew G. Cooper ◽  
Andrew N. Green

Abstract. Evidence for sea-level change during and around Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5e (ca. 125 ka) in southern Africa derives from a wide variety of geomorphic and sedimentological sea-level indicators, supported in the past 2 decades by absolute chronological control, particularly on littoral deposits, some of which have a quantifiable relationship to former sea level. In addition to these proxies, data provided by both terrestrial (dune sediments and archaeological remains) and marine (lagoonal and nearshore littoral sediments) limiting points provide broad constraints on sea level. Here, we review publications describing such data points. Using the framework of the World Atlas of Last Interglacial Shorelines, we insert in a standardized database (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4459297, Cooper and Green, 2020) all the elements available to assess former palaeo-relative sea level (palaeo-RSL) and the chronological constraints associated with them (including uncertainties). Overall, we reviewed 71 studies, from which we extracted 39 sea-level indicators and 26 limiting points. As far as age attribution is concerned, early analysis of molluscs and whole-rock beachrock samples using U series allowed dating of several sea-level indicators during the 1980s, but the more widespread application of optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating since 2004 has yielded many more (and more accurate) sea-level indicators from several sites. This has helped resolve the nature and timing of MIS 5e shorelines and has the potential to further elucidate the apparent presence of two or more sea-level peaks at several South African sites during this interval. The standardized sea-level database presented in this paper is the first of its kind for this region. Future research should be directed to improve the stratigraphic description of last interglacial shorelines and to obtain better dating, high-accuracy elevation measurements with better palaeo-RSL interpretation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 2651-2699
Author(s):  
Nadine Hallmann ◽  
Gilbert Camoin ◽  
Jody M. Webster ◽  
Marc Humblet

Abstract. Marine Isotope Stage 5 deposits have been reported on many tropical Pacific islands. This paper presents a database compiled through the review of MIS 5e (last interglacial – LIG) coral reef records from islands belonging to French Polynesia (Anaa, Niau, Makatea, Moruroa, Takapoto, Bora Bora), the Hawaiian Islands (Oahu, Lanai, Midway Atoll), Tuvalu, Kiribati (Christmas Island, Tarawa), the Cook Islands (Mangaia, Atiu, Mitiaro, Mauke, Pukapuka, Rakahanga, Rarotonga), Tonga, Samoa, the Federal States of Micronesia, the Mariana Islands, the Marshall Islands (Enewetak, Bikini), New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji and Niue. Studies reporting other sea-level indicators dated to other Pleistocene interglacials and Holocene sea-level indicators were not inserted in the database but are included in this data description paper for completeness. Overall, about 300 studies concerning Pleistocene and Holocene sea-level indicators have been reviewed, and finally 163 age data points and 94 relative sea-level (RSL) data points from 38 studies on the MIS 5e have been inserted in the database. An additional 155 age data points have been reviewed; i.e. the tropical Pacific islands database contains 318 age data points. The main sea-level indicators include emerged coral reef terraces, but also reef units recovered in drill cores from a few islands, thus reflecting the diversity of tectonic settings and sampling approaches. Future research should be directed towards better constrained RSL reconstructions, including more precise chronological data, more accurate elevation measurements and a better refinement of the palaeo-water-depth significance of coralgal assemblages. The database for tropical Pacific islands is available open access at this link: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3991672 (Hallmann and Camoin, 2020).


2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (46) ◽  
pp. 12144-12149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessio Rovere ◽  
Elisa Casella ◽  
Daniel L. Harris ◽  
Thomas Lorscheid ◽  
Napayalage A. K. Nandasena ◽  
...  

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.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teresa Bardají ◽  
José Luis Goy ◽  
Caridad Zazo ◽  
Claude Hillaire-Marcel ◽  
Cristino J. Dabrio ◽  
...  

<p><span><span>The volcanic Cape Verde archipelago constitutes one of the few sites in low latitude eastern Atlantic Ocean, where a long record of Pleistocene sea-level indicators develops, particularly beach deposits and marine terraces. The extreme aridity of the easternmost islands (Sal, Boa Vista and Maio) allows the exposure of long sedimentary sequences, the altitudinal and spatial distribution of which must be related both to sea level behaviour in low latitude settings and also to the volcanic nature of the archipelago.</span></span></p><p><span><span>The particular case of Maio Island reveals the occurrence of a flight of at least 18 marine terraces, between +85 and 0m. The chronology has been approached by a paleomagnetic sequence (Early - Middle Pleistocene transition), U-series measurements (Last Interglacial deposits) and 14C (Holocene units). </span></span></p><p><span><span>The results have revealed a differential behaviour in the vertical motion of the island along the Pleistocene, with unequal uplift rates during Early and Middle Pleistocene. An anomalously low-lying MIS5 unit in this island fits well with the predictions done by GIA models of Crevelling et al., (2017) although the proper evolution of volcanic islands cannot be discarded.</span></span></p><p><span><span>A comparison with Sal (Zazo et al., 2007, 2010) and Boa Vista islands is done, especially in what the MIS5 sea level record is concerned. MIS 5e deposits are scarce along the coasts of Maio and Boa Vista, and always at very low heights above mean sea level (0-0,5 m). On the island of Sal the deposits corresponding to the MIS 5e are located at a maximum height of +2.5m asml, in its most southern sector, being also very frequent to find them at 0m (Zazo et al., 2010). </span></span></p><p><span><span>The geomorphological distribution of the Pleistocene sedimentary sequences along these three islands reveals a complex history of uplift and subsidence that must be conciliated with the far-field sea level behavior, especially for the MIS5 units.</span></span></p><p><span><span>Creveling et al., 2017. QSR 163.</span></span></p><p><span><span>Zazo et al., 2007. QSR 26.</span></span></p><p><span><span>Zazo et al., 2010. GPCh 72.</span></span></p><p><span><span>Acknowledgements: This work has been supported by FEDER-MINECO Spanish project CGL15-69919-R.</span></span></p>


2020 ◽  
Vol 157 (12) ◽  
pp. 2021-2032
Author(s):  
David J.W. Piper ◽  
Georgia Pe-Piper

AbstractThe 161-ka Kos Plateau Tuff (KPT) eruption deposited widespread unwelded ignimbrites, but the Dikeos and Sympetro mountains on the SE of Kos Island blocked all but the most energetic pyroclastic flows. KPT remnants north of Sympetro mountain comprise reworked tuffite containing pumice and lithic clasts that petrologically and geochemically resemble those found in KPT unit E tephra, and reworked accretionary lapilli similar to those in KPT unit F. Tuffite is found only downslope from a 375-m-high pass between the Dikeos and Sympetro mountains, which was breached at the eruption climax by pyroclastic flows that then accelerated down the 10° north slope of Sympetro. The tuffite crops out in the palaeocliffs of a prominent terrace at an elevation of 75 m, interpreted as the transgressive ravinement surface of the first interglacial marine highstand after the KPT eruption during marine isotope stage (MIS) 5e. A similar ravinement surface cuts KPT deposits in central Kos at elevations of up to 135 m and implies post-MIS 5e uplift rates of 0.7–1.0 m ka−1, confirmed by the elevation of a previously reported raised beach beneath the KPT. A Holocene raised beach on the east coast of Kos contains pumice clasts from the Yali-4 eruption at 4–3 ka. Its elevation of 2 m above sea level is consistent with the elevation of the local MIS 5e terrace. Its present erosion results from the blocking of discharge from ephemeral streams by human infrastructure. Our study provides the first integrated chronologic and neotectonic interpretation of the prominent plateau and terrace surfaces on Kos Island.


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