Abstract
Abstract. We use a standardized template for Pleistocene sea-level data to review last interglacial (Marine Isotope Stage 5 – MIS 5) sea-level indicators along the coasts of the western Atlantic and southwestern Caribbean, on a transect spanning from Brazil to Honduras and including the islands of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao. We identified six main types of sea-level indicators (beach deposits, coral reef terraces, lagoonal deposits, marine terraces, Ophiomorpha burrows, and tidal notches) and produced 55 standardized data points, each constrained by one or more geochronological methods. Sea-level indicators are well preserved along the Brazilian coasts, providing an almost continuous north-to-south transect. However, this continuity disappears north of the Rio Grande do Norte Brazilian state. According to the sea-level index points (discrete past position of relative sea level in space and time) the paleo sea-level values range from ∼ 5.6 to 20 m above sea level (a.s.l.) in the continental sector and from ∼ 2 to 10 m a.s.l. in the Caribbean islands. In this paper, we address the uncertainties surrounding these values. From our review, we identify that the coasts of northern Brazil, French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana, and Venezuela would benefit from a renewed study of Pleistocene sea-level indicators, as it was not possible to identify sea-level index points for the last interglacial coastal outcrops of these countries. Future research must also be directed at improving the chronological control at several locations, and several sites would benefit from the re-measurement of sea-level index points using more accurate elevation measurement techniques. The database compiled in this study is available in spreadsheet format at the following link: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5516444 (Version 1.02; Rubio-Sandoval et al., 2021).
Highlights
In this paper, we present the results of a literature survey on the last interglacial shorelines (here broadly defined as having formed during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5, 132–80 ka) along the Atlantic coasts of the following countries and territories: Brazil, French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana, Venezuela, Bonaire, Curaçao, Aruba, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Honduras
We identify that the coasts of northern Brazil, French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana, and Venezuela would benefit from a renewed study of Pleistocene sea-level indicators, as it was not possible to identify sea-level index points for the last interglacial coastal outcrops of these countries
We present the results of a literature survey on the last interglacial shorelines (here broadly defined as having formed during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5, 132–80 ka) along the Atlantic coasts of the following countries and territories: Brazil, French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana, Venezuela, Bonaire, Curaçao, Aruba, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Honduras
Summary
We present the results of a literature survey on the last interglacial shorelines (here broadly defined as having formed during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5, 132–80 ka) along the Atlantic coasts of the following countries and territories: Brazil, French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana, Venezuela, Bonaire, Curaçao, Aruba, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Honduras. While we found reports on Pleistocene shorelines in most of the countries and territories listed above, we could only extract sea-level index points (or marine-/terrestrial-limiting points) for Brazil, Bonaire, Curaçao, Aruba, and the islands of Providencia and San Andrés in Colombia (Fig. 1). This was broadly caused by a lack of enough published metadata to allow a proper standardization of sea-level data for the remaining coastal areas. We used published peer-reviewed scientific papers to compile a database of MIS 5 relative sea-level indicators using the standardized framework of WALIS, the World Atlas of Last Interglacial Shorelines (Rovere et al, 2020). We discuss potential future research directions that may be required to improve the quantity and quality of the data contained in our review
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