New insights on the relative sea level change during Holocene along the coasts of Tunisia and western Libya from archaeological and geomorphological markers

Holocene sea level change in Malta

“…Despite their complex attribution, Roman Age and Middle Age coastal structures roughly indicate that their elevations are in agreement with the predicted sea level curve of Lambeck et al (2011). During Roman time, sea level was À1.36 AE 0.1 m, while in the Midde Ages it was at À0.56 AE 0.2 m, in good agreement with previous estimations for the Mediterranean region (Lambeck et al, 2004b;Antonioli et al, 2007;Anzidei et al, 2011aAnzidei et al, , 2011bToker et al, 2012). Geological data highlight that this area is tectonically stable along the vertical since the last 125 ka.…”

“…Sea level change is the sum of eustatic, glacio-hydroisostatic and tectonic movements: the first is global and time-dependent, and the latter two vary with location, sediment load, compaction and anthropic factors (Lambeck et al, 2004a). The glacio-hydro-isostatic component of post-glacial sea level rise has been recently predicted and compared with field data at several coastal sites around the Italian coasts (Lambeck et al, 2004a;Antonioli et al, 2007Antonioli et al, , 2009) and for other areas of the Mediterranean Sea (Anzidei et al, 2011a(Anzidei et al, , 2011b, providing an estimate of the rates of the current vertical tectonic motion.…”

Genesis and Evolution of A Beach-Ridge Plain Reflecting Relative Sea-Level Rise: A Case Study From Trab El Makhadha Gulf of Gabes, Southeastern Tunisia

“…Swale formation is contemporaneous with relative sea-level fall observed around 2100 14 C years, before stabilizing near the present-day sea-level position (Jedoui et al 1998;Anzidei et al 2011). Relative fall of sea level, which leads to the lowering of wave base, is commonly recognized as an important factor in the buildup of swales (Anthony 1995;Tanner 1995;Goy et al 2003).…”

“…A recent study reveals that local relative sea level along the southeastern coast of Tunisia has risen by 0.5 m over the last 2000 yr B.P. (Anzidei et al 2011). Recorded geological data shows that global sea level may have risen at an average rate of about 0.1-0.2 mm/yr over the last 3000 14 C years (Zerbini et al 1996;Lambeck and Bard 2000;Lambeck et al 2004;Lambek 2004).…”

“…Previous studies focused on the paleo-shoreline position, such as Pleistocene coast, including changes in the eustatic signal in the Gulf of Gabes (Morzadec-Kerfourn 2002;Jedoui et al 2002;Jedoui et al 2003;Morhange and Pirazzoli 2005;Anzidei et al 2011). The recent seashore trend has been largely ignored.…”