Abstract
The article presents an overview of current ideas about the possible causes and physical mechanisms of relative sea-level changes. The choice of the predominant factor can be demonstrated by the study of stratigraphic sequences formed at the oceanic basin margins or in the epeiric seas of cratonic interior areas. Such studies lead to the conclusion that high frequency fluctuations with a period of less than 1 Myr are caused primarily by the glacial episodes on the land. Fluctuations with a longer period of 1-3 Myr are controlled by intraplate tectonic processes, among which the prograde metamorphism at the crust-mantle boundary is the most important. Lateral stress of lithosphere with laterally variable thickness and the dynamic topography are also possible. Tectonic processes affecting the volume of ocean basins, such as accelerating or decelerating spreading, subduction appear to be in causal relationship with the long-period sea level changes of 10 to 100 Myr and over.
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