Mid- to Late Holocene sealevel changes at Abrolhos Archipelago and Bank, southwestern Atlantic, Brazil

Abstract

This study presents spatiotemporal paleo-sea-level reconstructions from Abrolhos archipelago and Abrolhos Bank, and fill in a coastline gap of 500 km where no precise paleo-sea level reconstruction exists. The reconstructions are based on sedimentary, biological and geomorphological evidences. The data indicates sea-levels up to 2.9 m higher than the current one between the Mid- to Late Holocene, in agreement with the empirical sea-level envelope and with predictions of geophysical sea-level models for the Brazilian coast. The data suggests that there was little, if any, hydroisostatic compensation across 55 km of the continental shelf in the study area, between the archipelago and the mainland coast, given that similar elevations of the post-glacial sea-level maximum exist in both places.