Late Holocene sea-level change and climate

Abstract

Although records of late Holocene relative sea-level (RSL) change have been reported from high-energy coastal environments, such as the raised beaches of Alaska (Jordon and Mason, 1999) and Antarctica (Zwartz et al., 1998), some of the most detailed records are preserved in the saltmarsh deposits which have accumulated on the passive margins of the Atlantic Ocean under a predominantly upward trend in RSL. This situation contrasts with that found in much of the Pacific Ocean or the Mediterranean, where tectonic processes control patterns of RSL and coastal evolution, often overprinting any sea level - climate link (e.g., Long and Shennan, 1998; Nelson et al., 1998; Pirazzoli, 1998; Benson et al., 1999; Goff and Chague-Goff, 1999; Hindson and Andrade, 1999; Hindson et al., 1999; Shennan et al., 1998; 1999; Stanley, 1999). Recently published research into late Holocene sea-level change and climate in North America and Canada, northwest Europe and the Pacific is now considered, before some general issues emerging from this work are explored.