Abstract
Abstract. Coastal southeast South America is one of the classic locations where there are robust, spatially extensive records of past high sea level. Sea-level proxies interpreted as last interglacial (Marine Isotope Stage 5e, MIS 5e) exist along the length of the Uruguayan and Argentinian coast with exceptional preservation especially in Patagonia. Many coastal deposits are correlated to MIS 5e solely because they form the next-highest terrace level above the Holocene highstand; however, dating control exists for some landforms from amino acid racemization, U∕Th (on molluscs), electron spin resonance (ESR), optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL), and radiocarbon dating (which provides minimum ages). As part of the World Atlas of Last Interglacial Shorelines (WALIS) database, we have compiled a total of 60 MIS 5 proxies attributed, with various degrees of precision, to MIS 5e. Of these, 48 are sea-level indicators, 11 are marine-limiting indicators (sea level above the elevation of the indicator), and 1 is terrestrial limiting (sea level below the elevation of the indicator). Limitations on the precision and accuracy of chronological controls and elevation measurements mean that most of these indicators are considered to be low quality. The database is available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3991596 (Gowan et al., 2020).
Highlights
During Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5e, global sea level was 5–9 m higher than at present (Kopp et al, 2009; Dutton and Lambeck, 2012; Rovere et al, 2016)
This work is similar to other studies where there are multiple highstand records for MIS 5 present, in that MIS 5e features are expected to be those at the highest elevation (Lambeck and Chappell, 2001; Potter et al, 2004; Dumas et al, 2006; Suricet al., 2009; Moseley et al, 2013), MIS 5e features are expected to be those at the highest elevation
Rostami et al (2000) state that there is a strong suspicion that elevation in some studies may have just taken the value from Feruglio (1950), rather than from direct measurement
Summary
During Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5e (about 130–115 ka), global sea level was 5–9 m higher than at present (Kopp et al, 2009; Dutton and Lambeck, 2012; Rovere et al, 2016). Darwin remarked on how the elevation of different terraces seemed to be nearly the same along the entire Patagonian coast and concluded that their formation was likely the result of land being uplifted This hypothesis continues to be favoured by many researchers working on Argentinian sea level Techniques used to date MIS 5 shorelines in Argentina include amino acid racemization (Rutter et al, 1989, 1990; Aguirre et al, 1995; Schellmann, 1998), electron spin resonance (Radtke, 1989; Rutter et al, 1990; Schellmann, 1998; Schellmann and Radtke, 2000), and U/Th on mollusc shells (Radtke, 1989; Schellmann, 1998; Isla et al, 2000; Rostami et al, 2000; Bujalesky et al, 2001; Pappalardo et al, 2015) These studies provide the bulk of the confidently assigned MIS 5 sea-level proxies in the database.
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