TY - JOUR

T1 - Relative sea-level variability during the late Middle Pleistocene: New evidence from eastern England

AU - Barlow, Natasha L. M.

AU - Long, A.J.

AU - Gehrels, W. Roland

AU - Saher, Margot

AU - Scaife, Rob G.

AU - Davies, Heather

AU - Penkman, Kirsty

AU - Bridgland, D.R.

AU - Sparkes, Amy

AU - Smart, Christopher

AU - Taylor, Sheila

N1 - Funding for this work was provided by UK Natural Environment Research Council grant “Using interglacials to assess future sea-level scenarios (iGlass)” (NE/I008675/1).

PY - 2017/10/1

Y1 - 2017/10/1

N2 - Unravelling patterns of relative sea-level change during previous interglacials enhances our understanding of ice sheet response to changing climate. Temperate-latitude estuarine environments have the potential to preserve continuous records of relative sea level from previous interglacial (warm) periods. This is important because, currently, we typically only have snapshots of sea-level highstands from lowlatitude corals and raised palaeoshoreline indicators while the (continuous) deep-sea oxygen isotope record only provides indirect evidence of sea-level changes. Here, we focus on the Nar Valley in eastern England, in which is preserved evidence of a late middle-Pleistocene marine transgression more than 20 vertical metres in extent. By applying a model of coastal succession and sea-level tendencies, as used in Holocene sea-level studies, we assess the mode (abrupt versus gradual) of sea-level change recorded by the interglacial Nar Valley sequences. Compiled palaeo-stratigraphic evidence comprising foraminifera, pollen and amino acid racemization dating, suggests that the mode of sea-level change in the Nar Valley interglacial sequence was gradual, with potentially two phases of regional transgression and relative sea-level rise occurring at two separate times. The first phase occurred during the latter part of marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 11 from ~8 to 18 m OD; and, the second phase potentially occurred duringearly MIS 9 from ~-3 to 3 m OD (with long-term tectonic uplift included in these estimates). We cannot conclusively preclude an alternative MIS 11 age for these lower sediments. The lack of indicators for rapid sea-level oscillations in the Nar Valley adds weight to an argument for steady melt of the ice sheets during both MIS 11 and 9.

AB - Unravelling patterns of relative sea-level change during previous interglacials enhances our understanding of ice sheet response to changing climate. Temperate-latitude estuarine environments have the potential to preserve continuous records of relative sea level from previous interglacial (warm) periods. This is important because, currently, we typically only have snapshots of sea-level highstands from lowlatitude corals and raised palaeoshoreline indicators while the (continuous) deep-sea oxygen isotope record only provides indirect evidence of sea-level changes. Here, we focus on the Nar Valley in eastern England, in which is preserved evidence of a late middle-Pleistocene marine transgression more than 20 vertical metres in extent. By applying a model of coastal succession and sea-level tendencies, as used in Holocene sea-level studies, we assess the mode (abrupt versus gradual) of sea-level change recorded by the interglacial Nar Valley sequences. Compiled palaeo-stratigraphic evidence comprising foraminifera, pollen and amino acid racemization dating, suggests that the mode of sea-level change in the Nar Valley interglacial sequence was gradual, with potentially two phases of regional transgression and relative sea-level rise occurring at two separate times. The first phase occurred during the latter part of marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 11 from ~8 to 18 m OD; and, the second phase potentially occurred duringearly MIS 9 from ~-3 to 3 m OD (with long-term tectonic uplift included in these estimates). We cannot conclusively preclude an alternative MIS 11 age for these lower sediments. The lack of indicators for rapid sea-level oscillations in the Nar Valley adds weight to an argument for steady melt of the ice sheets during both MIS 11 and 9.

KW - Sea-level changes

KW - Quaternary

KW - Pleistocene

KW - Hoxnian

KW - Dating

KW - Micropaleontology

KW - Ice Sheets

KW - Western Europe

U2 - 10.1016/j.quascirev.2017.08.017

DO - 10.1016/j.quascirev.2017.08.017

M3 - Article

VL - 173

SP - 20

EP - 39

JO - Quaternary Science Reviews

JF - Quaternary Science Reviews

SN - 0277-3791

ER -