Abstract
Abstract. Sea-level proxies for Marine Isotopic Stage 5e (MIS 5e, ca. 124 ka) are abundant along the Japanese shoreline and have been documented for over at least the past 60 years. The bulk of these sea-level proxies are identified in Japan as marine terraces, often correlated by stratigraphic relationships to identified tephra layers, or other chronologically interpreted strata. Use of stratigraphic correlation in conjunction with other techniques such as paleontological analysis, tectonic uplift rates, tephra (volcanic ash), uranium–thorium (U–Th), and carbon-14 (14C) dating have connected Japan's landforms to global patterns of sea-level change. This paper reviews over 60 years of publications containing sea-level proxies correlated with MIS 5e in Japan. Data collected for this review have been added to the World Atlas of Last Interglacial Shorelines (WALIS), following their standardizations on the elements necessary to analyze paleosea-levels. This paper reviewed over 70 studies, assembling data points for over 300 locations and examining related papers denoting sea-level indicators for MIS 5e. The database compiled for this review (Tam and Yokoyama, 2020) is available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4294326. Sea-level proxy studies in Japan rely heavily on chronostratigraphic techniques and are recognized as reliable, though opportunities exist for further constraining through the further use of numerical age dating techniques.
Highlights
This paper reviewed over 70 studies, assembling data points for over 300 locations and examining related papers denoting sealevel indicators for Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5e
Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5e is of particular interest because of its position as the last major interglacial period before present, and due to similarities in global mean temperatures during this period to projected changes in climate, observations of MIS 5e could aid in quantifying sea-level change in the current and coming century (Stirling et al, 1995; Rohling et al, 2008; Rahmstorf, 2007; Church et al, 2001)
Direct latitude and longitude values were provided only in limited studies, so locations were estimated by comparing mapped locations provided in published studies to Google Earth, or finding an appropriate average location for areas examined in the study
Summary
Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5e is of particular interest because of its position as the last major interglacial period before present, and due to similarities in global mean temperatures during this period to projected changes in climate, observations of MIS 5e could aid in quantifying sea-level change in the current and coming century (Stirling et al, 1995; Rohling et al, 2008; Rahmstorf, 2007; Church et al, 2001) This stage has been constrained to between 128– 116 ka (Stirling et al, 1998; Yokoyama and Esat, 2011), with average sea-level rise in tectonically stable areas at 5–9 m higher than at present (Dutton and Lambeck, 2012). 310 proxies were age constrained by stratigraphic correlation, 149 utilized tephra–stratigraphic correlation, 6 used optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating, and 5 employed U–Th dating, with studies frequently using multiple techniques
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
