HR: 15:20h
AN: PP53B-06 [Abstracts]
TI: Global sea-level changes inferred from U.S. margin and deep-sea isotopic records
AU: * Miller, K G
EM: kgm@rci.rutgers.edu
AF: Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Department of Geological Sciences
610 Taylor Rd., Piscataway, NJ 07090, United States
AU: Browning, J V
EM: jvb@rci.rutgers.edu
AF: Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, Department of Geological Sciences
610 Taylor Rd., Piscataway, NJ 07090, United States
AU: Wright, J D
EM: jdwright@rci.rutgers.edu
AF: Western Michigan University, Department of Geosciences
1187 Rood Hall, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, United States
AU: Hayden, T G
EM: travis.g.hayden@wmich.edu
AF: Western Michigan University, Department of Geosciences
1187 Rood Hall, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, United States
AU: Kominz, M A
EM: michelle.kominz@wmich.edu
AF: Western Michigan University, Department of Geosciences
1187 Rood Hall, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, United States
AU: Sugarman, P J
EM: Pete.Sugarman@dep.state.nj.us
AF: New Jersey Geological Survey, PO Box 427, Trenton, NJ 08625, United States
AB:
U.S. mid-Atlantic margin records provide constraints on interpretations of global sea-level and deep-sea isotopic
records. Based on our scaling of oxygen isotopic records, we predict preservation of strata only during peak
interglacials (e.g., 5e, 11) back through the Pliocene. Previous studies in Virginia and the Carolinas suggest
much higher sea level than today during the early Pliocene (35±15m); the absence of Pliocene strata in New
Jersey and Delaware suggest either sea-level lower than modern or uplift of this region relative to Virginia and the
Carolinas. Backstripping of Virginia records suggest a maximum eustatic highstand less than 20 m during the
early Pliocene consistent with our scaling of deep-sea isotope records. The margin was largely in hiatus from ca.
2 Ma to stage 5e (125 ka) suggesting sea-levels below present; two likely exceptions were ca. 400 ka and ca. 1
Ma highstands that probably correlate with stages 11 and 31 mega-interglacials. Stages 5e and the Holocene are
recorded onshore in New Jersey, whereas other late Pleistocene stages are only found offshore. The late
Pleistocene sea-level record from the U.S. middle Atlantic margin is similar to records from New Guinea,
Barbados, Araki, and the Red Sea for stages 1, 2, 4, 5e, and 6; large differences exist among records for MIC 3,
with smaller differences in MIC5a and-5c. Holocene sea-level records from the Mid-Atlantic region show
surprising uniformity considering different proximities to the peripheral bulge, with a relative rise throughout the
region of ~1.7-1.9 mm/y since ~5000 yBP. Correcting for geoidal subsidence, the U.S. east coast records suggest
a global sea-level (eustatic) rise of ~0.8 mm/y since 5000 yBP. Comparison with other records provides a best
estimate of pre-anthropogenic global sea-level rise of 0.8±0.3 mm/y from 5000 until ~1750 AD, indicating that
anthropogenic influences are far larger than the natural rise.
DE: 0726 Ice sheets
DE: 1222 Ocean monitoring with geodetic techniques (1225, 1641, 3010, 4532, 4556, 4560, 6959)
DE: 1621 Cryospheric change (0776)
DE: 1641 Sea level change (1222, 1225, 4556)
SC: Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology [PP]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting