文章基本信息

标题：MIS 11 rocks! The “smoking gun” of a catastrophic +20 m eustatic sea-level rise
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作者：PAUL J. HEARTY
期刊名称：PAGES News
印刷版ISSN：1811-1602
电子版ISSN：1811-1610
出版年度：2007
卷号：15
期号：1
页码：25-25
出版社：PAGES International Project Office
摘要：A sea level rise 20 m higher than present implies disintegration of the Greenland and West Antarctic Ice Sheets and a signifi - cant draw down of East Antarctica; as such an increase in ocean volume cannot be attributed to thermal expansion alone. This brief crest of sea level at +20 m occurred around 400 kyr ago during MIS 11, which is one of the Pleistocene interglacials over the past million years that closely resembles our own MIS 1 interglacial, based on orbital parameters modulating Northern Hemisphere insolation. Could aspects of the sea level and climatic shifts of 400 kyr pertain to the future of MIS 1? Could anthropogenic spiking of atmospheric CO2 to Cretaceous levels amplify the course of events to even greater extremes than in MIS 11? Given such cataclysmic prospects, it is critical to document as accurately as possible all aspects of this middle Pleistocene (mP) sea level event. The record of a +20 ± 2 m highstand is preserved as geomorphic and geologic imprints along coastlines of the world’s oceans. The tangible and datable rocks are the most accurate and reliable scientifi c means of quantifying ocean and ice-volume changes. This record of sea-level changes does not require validation by the iterative and circumstantial data off ered by proxy methods, although such an approach may be instrumental in providing corroboration.