Rapid sea-level rise and reef back-stepping at the close of the last interglacial highstand

Paul Blanchon (), Anton Eisenhauer, Jan Fietzke and Volker Liebetrau
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Paul Blanchon: Institute of Marine & Limnological Sciences, National Autonomous University of Mexico, AP1152, Cancun, 77500 Quintana Roo, Mexico
Anton Eisenhauer: Leibniz Institute of Marine Science, IFM-GEOMAR, Wischhofstrasse 1–3, 24148 Kiel, Germany
Jan Fietzke: Leibniz Institute of Marine Science, IFM-GEOMAR, Wischhofstrasse 1–3, 24148 Kiel, Germany
Volker Liebetrau: Leibniz Institute of Marine Science, IFM-GEOMAR, Wischhofstrasse 1–3, 24148 Kiel, Germany

Nature, 2009, vol. 458, issue 7240, 881-884

Abstract: An interglacial jump in sea level The potential for future rapid sea-level rise is perhaps the greatest threat from global warming. But the question of whether recent ice loss from Greenland and Antarctica is the first indication of such a rise is difficult to answer given the limited duration of the instrumental record. New evidence from an exceptionally exposed fossil reef in the Xcaret theme park in Mexico provides a detailed picture of the development of reef terraces, erosion surfaces and sea-level excursions in the region during the last interglacial. A combination of precise uranium-series dating and stratigraphic analysis, together with comparison with coral ages elsewhere, suggests that a sea-level jump of 2 to 3 metres occurred about 121,000 years ago, consistent with an episode of ice-sheet instability towards the end of the last interglacial. On that evidence, sustained rapid ice loss and sea-level rise in the near future are possible.

Date: 2009
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DOI: 10.1038/nature07933

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