The early Holocene sea level rise
Highlights
► Reviews the early Holocene sea level rise of 11650–7000 cal. BP. ► Argues that the rise was involved in the discharge of Lake Agassiz-Ojibway and the 8200-year cooling event. ► Shows that he rise influenced climate by increasing sea areas, in turn affecting human migration. ► Suggests that the rise increased volcanic activity, but that its effects on submarine sliding are uncertain. ► Argues that study of the rise helps throw light on the effects of future sea level changes in a global warming world.
Introduction
The early Holocene, defined here as 11,650 to 7000 calibrated years before 1950 (BP), was a time of widespread environmental change as temperatures rose rapidly at the end of the last glaciation. A notable feature of this time was the ca 60m rise in sea levels over most of the Earth, as several studies imply (e.g. Fairbanks, 1989, Bard et al., 1996). This has attracted a great deal of scientific attention in recent years and we believe that it is timely to consider the published evidence for this rise and its impacts on the environment. We review the likely causes of the sea level rise, including its effects on the decay of coastal ice streams, before outlining the nature of the rise and its effects on coastlines. We then examine its possible consequences, in particular its relationship to climate, volcanic activity and submarine sliding, before considering its impacts on Mesolithic and Neolithic cultures. In a concluding statement, the paper summarises the changes described; comments on the relevance of studies of early Holocene sea level change as a key to understanding patterns and rates of change during glacial terminations; and concludes with a brief account of the extent to which an understanding of this phase of Earth history can prepare us for Earth system responses in the foreseeable future.
In the account which follows, sea level (SL) refers to the level of the sea surface without reference to the land and relative sea level (RSL) refers to the level of the sea as observed at the coastline. All dates given here are in sidereal (calibrated) years. Where original calibrated radiocarbon dates are not given in the published accounts quoted, calibrated dates have been obtained using Calib 6.0 (Reimer et al., 2009). All dates are given as before 1950: where 2000 AD is the datum (as with some ice core records), dates have been adjusted. Locations discussed are shown in Fig. 1, Fig. 3, Fig. 5, Fig. 7.
Section snippets
Definition
The early Holocene SL rise (here referred to by the acronym EHSLR) was a period of rapid rise over most of the Earth’s oceans which took place between 11,650 BP and 7000 BP. Ocean volume had been increasing after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) according to the oxygen isotope record (e.g. Chappell and Shackleton, 1986, Cayre et al., 1999), but studies of low latitude coral records (e.g. Edwards et al., 1993, Montaggioni et al., 1997, Bard et al., 2010) indicate that the increase slowed during
Causes of the early Holocene sea level rise
The increase in ocean volume in the early Holocene was primarily driven by meltwater release as atmospheric temperatures rose and ice sheets decayed. Steric effects were of much less significance. Thus Milne et al. (2009) observed that although sea temperatures rose, steric effects including thermal expansion were probably “within data uncertainty” (p. 474), since because of the oceans’ very large thermal inertia, ocean temperatures would have varied less than atmospheric temperatures. Proxy
Spatial variations
Spatial changes in global sea surface levels due to geophysical effects occurred during the early Holocene. Effects such as changes in Earth rotation, originally addressed by Munk and Revelle (1952), have been the source of considerable interest, with Mörner (1993) remarking specifically on the period 13,000–11,000 BP, which includes the EHSLR. Clark et al., 1978, Clark and Primus, 1987, Peltier, 2007, Bamber et al., 2009; and Hu et al. (2009) considered the redistribution of mass both after
Concluding statement
In this review we have considered the causes, anatomy and consequences of the EHSLR. The rise occurred as the last glaciation came to an end, forced by widespread changes in insolation as the Earth moved from a glacial to an interglacial environment. The EHSLR played a role in the decay of the ice masses, and was both a cause and a consequence of ice sheet decay. Rising SLs destabilized thinning coastal ice streams, often breaking up buttressing ice shelves, and hastened the decay of the ice.
Acknowledgements
We thank Sue Rouillard for cartographic work and the referees for their perceptive and constructive comments.
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