Sea level change in Italy during last 300 ka. A review

Abstract

Biogeographia vol. XXIV - 2003 (Printed October, 31st 2003) Marine biogeography of the Mediterranean Sea: patterns and dynamics of biodiversity Sea level change in Italy during last 300 ka. A review FABRIZIO AN TONIOLI ENE/I, via Anguillarese 301, I—00060 Szmtzz Maria dz‘ Gzzlerizz, Roma (Italy) e—mzzil: fizbrizio. zziztonioli @m::zccz';z. men. it Key words: sea level, isostatic rebound, radiocarbon ages. SUMMARY This paper is a review about t_he sea level change in Italy during last 300 ka and the markers used to constrain the curves. In particular is underlined as it is important to distinguish between Global, Local and Predicted sea level curves. INTRODUCTION Sea level change can be reconstructed from dated fossil coral reef terraces, and these data are complemented by a compilation of global sea—level estimates based on deep—sea oxygen isotope ratios at millennial—scale resolution or higher. Because of the lack of coral reefs in the Mediterranean seas, results on late Quaternary sea—level changes have been difficult to obtain in comparison with typical sites such as Barbados, the Huon Peninsula, Tahiti and others. Otherwise, the very low tidal range of Italian seas offers a good opportunity to produce precise palaeo— sea level curves. Sea level change along the Italian coast is the sum of eustatic, glacio—hydro— isostatic, and tectonic factors. The first is time—dependent while the latter two also vary with location. This wants to say that at the same time slices, the relative sea level (the sum of 3 different movements) should be different in different coastlines. For any palaeo reconstruction of ancient coastline it is necessary to take in account all components. It is important to distinguish between Global sea level curve (s.l.c.), Local s.l.c. or Predicted s.l.c., constrained using geophysical models.