The last interglacial shoreline in Australia — A review

Murray-Wallace, Colin V.; Belperio, A.P.

doi:10.1016/0277-3791(91)90006-g

Cited by 154 publications

(67 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…Therefore we are forced to refer the sea level during OIS 5e to the elevations measured in areas considered tectonically stable but located far away. The elevation is 2 m asl in southern Australia (Murray-Wallace and Belpeiro, 1991) and a similar value in the Bahamas for most of OIS 5e (Neumann and Hearty, 1996) although a rapid excursion before the close of the substage could bring the sea level up to 6 m asl.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 68%

Pleistocene raised marine terraces of the Spanish Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts: records of coastal uplift, sea-level highstands and climate changes

et al. 2003

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Detailed geological mapping, morphostratigraphic, palaeontological and geochronological (uranium-series) analyses were undertaken on the raised marine terraces and interbedded terrestrial deposits along the Spanish peninsular and insular Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts. Several sets of Pleistocene shallow-marine to coastal deposits exposed in a staircase arrangement are interpreted as being emplaced during sea-level highstands coeval with interglacials or interstadials correlating with marine Oxygen Isotopic Stages (OIS) 5a/5c, 5e, 7, 9/11 and older. Up to three highstands have been identified in deposits formed during OIS 5e. Close to the end of OIS 5e there is a record of sudden changes in sea-surface conditions and climate marked by the disappearance of a major proportion of the warm 'Senegalese' fauna, switches from oolitic to non-oolitic facies, and accumulation of boulder beaches. Dating of the coral Cladocora caespitosa, found in a layer that also contains Strombus bubonius, confirms the occurrence of warm fauna in the Mediterranean basin during OIS 7, as previously suggested by Hillaire-Marcel et al. (1986), Goy et al. (1986a,b), Zazo and Goy (1989). Also the occurrence of warm faunas in deposits corresponding to an older interglacial, probably OIS 9 or 11, in the Balearic Islands suggests similar oceanographic conditions (sea-surface temperature, assuming constant salinity) during the last interglacial and at least two interglacials of the Middle Pleistocene in the western Mediterranean. ß

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 68%

Pleistocene raised marine terraces of the Spanish Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts: records of coastal uplift, sea-level highstands and climate changes

et al. 2003

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“…Although in a global context Australia shows a high degree of tectonic stability, spatial variation is evident at the regional landscape scale (>10-100 km) in the elevation of coastal sedimentary successions of last interglacial age (MIS 5e) (Murray-Wallace & Belperio 1991;Murray-Wallace 2002). Notwithstanding the influence of glacio-hydro-isostatic adjustment processes, some of the variation in elevation of shoreline successions is unambiguously related to their geotectonic setting, and in particular, their pre-Quaternary physical landscape and tectonic setting.…”

Section: The Eyre Peninsula Last Interglacial (Mis 5e) Sea Level Highmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…128 to 116 ka) coastal sedimentary successions has intensified with the recognition that they provide important insights about relative sea-level changes in response to subtle variations in Earth surface temperatures, and may accordingly inform an understanding of sea-level changes in an enhanced Greenhouse Earth. Ocean surface waters along continental margins were warmer during the last interglacial, as attested by the extension in the latitudinal range of reef building corals and marine molluscs (Ludbrook 1984;Murray-Wallace & Belperio 1991;Muhs, Simmons & Steinke 2002, Muhs et al 2012. Warmer sea surface temperatures enhance the magnitude of sea level rise due to steric effects (thermally and salinity-induced expansion of water volume), and an understanding of the magnitude of this phenomenon will inform models of future coastal landscape change (Hearty et al 2007;Woodroffe & Murray-Wallace 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A de facto estimate of eustatic sea level for MIS 5e of 6 m above present sea level (APSL) was inferred from early compilations of relative sea level observations for the Pacific and Indian Oceans, which showed fossil corals between 2 and 9 m APSL in settings remote from active plate boundaries (Veeh 1966;Murray-Wallace & Belperio 1991). Subsequent work in the northern Bahamas (Grand Bahamas and Abaco) identified prominent shoreline notches at 5.9 m APSL and U-series ages with a mean age of 125 ka (Neumann & Moore 1975) seemed to corroborate the 6 m APSL inferred eustatic sea level for MIS 5e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Last interglacial (MIS 5e) sea-level determined from a tectonically stable, far-field location, Eyre Peninsula, southern Australia

Murray-Wallace

Belperio²,

Dosseto

et al. 2016

Australian Journal of Earth Sciences

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The last interglacial maximum (Marine Isotope Substage 5e [MIS 5e], 128¿116 ka) is a distinctive event in recent Earth history. Shoreline successions of this age are important for calibrating climate models and defining the overall behaviour of the crust¿mantle system to fluctuating ice and ocean-water volumes. In a global context, the recently intensified interest in last interglacial shoreline successions has revealed considerable variability in the magnitude of sea-level rise during this time interval and highlighted the need to examine paleosea-level evidence from tectonically stable, far-field settings. Situated in the far-field of continental ice sheets and on the tectonically stable Gawler Craton, the 300 km coastal sector of western Eyre Peninsula between Fowlers Bay and Lake Newland in southern Australia represents an important region for defining the glacio-eustatic (ice-equivalent) sea-level attained during the last interglacial maximum based on the relative sea-level observations from this region. Low-energy, shoaling upward, peritidal bioclastic carbonate successions of the last interglacial (locally termed Glanville Formation) formed within back-barrier, estuarine¿lagoonal environments in the lee of eolianite barrier complexes (locally termed Bridgewater Formation) along this coastline. The well-preserved shelly successions (coquinas) contain diverse molluscan fossil assemblages including species no longer living in the coastal waters of South Australia (e.g. the Sydney cockle Anadara trapezia and the benthic foraminifer Marginopora vertebralis). The extent of amino acid racemisation (a measure of fossil age based on increasing d/l value) in a range of species, and in particular A. trapezia and Katelysia sp., confirms the time equivalence of the isolated embayment-fill successions, correlated with the informal type section of the Glanville Formation at Dry Creek, north of Adelaide. Preliminary Useries analyses on A. trapezia also suggest a correlation with the last interglacial maximum, but further highlight the complexity in dating fossil molluscs by the U-series method in view of their open-system behaviour. The shelly successions of the Glanville Formation occur at elevations higher than attained by sealevel in the current, Holocene interglacial. A higher sea-level of between 2.1 ± 0.5 and 4 ± 0.5 m above present sea-level is inferred for the last interglacial maximum (MIS 5e) along this coastline based on the elevation of sedimentary successions host to the shallow subtidal¿intertidal fossil molluscs Katelysia sp., and Anadara trapezia. The paleosea-level observations place a lower limit on the sea-level attained during the last interglacial maximum and suggest that caution be exercised in the definition of the upper limit of sea-level during this interglacial. along this coastline based on the elevation of sedimentary successions host to the shallow subtidalintertidal fossil molluscs Katelysia sp., and Anadara trapezia. The palaeosea level observations place a lower limit on the sea ...

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“…However, rather than demonstrating the sea level rule, Bermuda has been more the exception to it. Marine isotope substage (MIS) 5e is considered by many authors to have been an important sea-level highstand impacting most of the world's stable coastlines (Hearty, 1986;Murray-Wallace and Belperio, 1991;Neumann and Hearty, 1996). Yet on Bermuda's South Shore, MIS 5e deposits are patchy and poorly represented.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Revision of the late Pleistocene stratigraphy of Bermuda

Hearty

2002

Sedimentary Geology

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The Quaternary stratigraphy of Bermuda is one of the world's most complete sedimentary records of interglacial highstands, representing at least the past million years. Yet in terms of the last interglacial (Rocky Bay Formation), marine isotope substage (MIS) 5e, only scanty deposits are preserved. In contrast, MIS 7, generally regarded as a diminutive interglaciation, exposes widespread emergent subtidal deposits of the Belmont Formation indicating a prolonged sea level highstand at ca. + 2.5 F 0.3 m. This ''Belmont paradox'' has prompted a reexamination of the geology of key sites along the South Shore of Bermuda.This revision of the late Quaternary stratigraphy of Bermuda is based on geological field observations; primarily the questionable origin of red soil-like deposits. It is concluded here that there is no physical evidence of the exposure of the upper Belmont surface for a full glacial cycle ( f 70 -100 ka), and that interbedded, reddish soil-like, lenticular deposits are the result of colluvial activity during mid-MIS 5e. Reexamination of previously published uranium-series (U/Th) ages indicates that several '' + 3-m notches'' contain a mix of ca. 125 ka and older coral ages. Contrary to previous works, this study favors an early MIS 5e interpretation of the coral ages from the + 2.5-m Belmont shoreline, which is further supported by amino acid racemization (AAR) ratios on whole-rock, Poecilozonites, Glycymeris, and Brachiodontes samples from shore and notch deposits. An updated AAR kinetic model demonstrates that the bulk of epimerization occurred during warm interglacial intervals between 130 and 80 ka and the last 10 ka of the Holocene. This revised stratigraphy of Bermuda now falls into accordance with a more general view of middle and late Pleistocene sea level history. D

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The last interglacial shoreline in Australia — A review

Cited by 154 publications

References 48 publications

Pleistocene raised marine terraces of the Spanish Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts: records of coastal uplift, sea-level highstands and climate changes

Pleistocene raised marine terraces of the Spanish Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts: records of coastal uplift, sea-level highstands and climate changes

Last interglacial (MIS 5e) sea-level determined from a tectonically stable, far-field location, Eyre Peninsula, southern Australia

Revision of the late Pleistocene stratigraphy of Bermuda

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