Universidad de Salamanca

Sea Level Change & Master Ciencias de la Tierra

Littoral Registry Kahlil J Yanes

November 7, 2017
Let’s start with the Basics
• A glacial period is an interval of
thousands of years within an ice
age that is marked by colder
temperatures and glacier advances.
The last glacial period ended about
15,000 years ago.
• Interglacials are periods of warmer
climate between glacial periods.
The Holocene epoch is the current
interglacial.

Let’s start with the Basics

 Glacial periods
• Würm/Wisconsin
Ended around 11,700 years ago with
the beginning of the Holocene.
• Riss/Illinoian
• Mindel/Pre-Illinoian
• Gunz/Pre-Illinoian

Let’s start with the Basics

 Milankovitch Cycles
• Orbital Shape (eccentricity)
100,000 year Cycle
• Axial Tilt (obliquity)
41,000 year Cycle
• Axial Precession
21,000 year Cycle

Let’s start with the Basics

 Sea Level ∆ : Why?

• Expansion of ocean (↑ T)
• Melting mountain glaciers
• Disintegration of
Greenland and Antarctica
(∆ Albedo)
 Sea Level ∆: How Much?

FAST PACED (K-cK)

Last Ice Age:
~130 m < Now
(stored H2O in ice sheets and
glaciers)

Greenland & Antarctica Melt:

Now > ~66 m
SLOW PACED (M)
Thick sequence of sedimentary
rocks
 Global Effect: Eustatic ∆
∆ Volume of Ocean Water:
Beginning of an ice age: T ↓ H2O ↓
(stored in Glaciers) Sea Level ↓
Ice age ends: T ↑ H2O ↑ (Glaciers
melt) Sea Level ↑
∆ Shape of an Ocean Basin:
(Due to tectonic movement)
Size ocean basins ↑ volume of the
oceans ↑ sea level ↓
(same amount of water in the ocean)
Ocean basins ↓ volume of the oceans
↓ sea level rises ↑
 Local Effect: Isostatic ∆

∆ Height of the Land:

Ice age: COMPRESSION Buildup of Ice
H Land ↓ Sea Level ↑

Ice age ends: DECOMPRESSION

H Land ↑ Sea Level ↓

Tectonic Uplift: DEPRESSION

 Sea Water Level: Recap

∆ Water Volume (Glacial/Interglacial)

∆ Ocean Basins
∆ Geoid

HOW DO WE RECORD Milutin Milankovitch, 138 Years old

THESE CHANGES?

Meanwhile in Tinder…
 Registry: Würm/Riss

Studies in:
• ∆ O18 in Sediments (deep
ocean and glaciers)
• ∆ Pollen Analysis (vegetation)
• ∆ Paleontology (fauna)
• Geomorphology (marine
terraces)

Moraines and gravel beds in Germany formed in

the Würm Glaciation
 Registry: Isotopic ∆
Glacial Period:
• ↓ H2O ↑ O18 ↓ O16
• ↓ Size Biosphere ↓ C13 ↑ C12

Interglacial Period:
• ↑ H2O ↓ O18 ↑ O16
•↑ Size Biosphere ↑ C13 ↓ C12
 NOTE: No professors were harmed in
the making of this PPT – Used with
Registry: Isotopic ∆ permission.

A reminder of
how it is done…
USAL Style!!

T
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P
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 Registry: Coral Reef ∆

Acropora Palmata:
• Grows in shallow water (<5 m)
• Light dependent
• Coral Sea Terraces @ current sea
level
• Dead corals mark sea level ∆
• Exoskeleton is easy to date
 Registry: Littoral ∆
Collision Coasts:
• Active Plate Margins
• Rugged Shore
• Often backed by seacliffs
• Often elevated sea Terraces
Trailing-Edge Coasts:
• Land moves with plate
• Slope into water
Marginal Sea Coasts:
• Along enclosed shores
(continents/Islands)
• Irregular shorelines
 ∆ O18/O16
∆ C13/C12 ∆ Vegetation Size Type of Coast: Collision

Glacial/Interglacial Periods ∆ Temp ∆ Albedo Coral Reefs

And now WE
ARE
COOKING!!!
∆ SEA LEVEL POT HEAD…
OK OK OK… ONLY POT