New Coral Dating Method Hints at Possible Future Sea-Level Changes

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=7545&tid=282&cid=113949&ct=162

News Release : New Coral Dating Method Hints at Possible Future Sea-Level Changes

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September 11, 2011
Media Relations Office
93 Water Street MS #16
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
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New evidence of sea-level oscillations during a warm period that started about 125,000 years ago raises the possibility of a similar scenario if the planet continues its more recent warming trend, says a research team led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).

In a paper published online in the Sept. 11 Nature Geoscience, the researchers report data from an improved method of dating fossil coral reef skeletons in the Bahamas. By calculating more accurate ages for the coral samples than previously possible, they found that sea levels were considerably less stable than earlier believed--oscillating up and down by 4 to 6 meters (13-20 feet) over a few thousand years about 120,000 years ago during a period known as the Last Interglacial.

“This was the last time that climate was as warm as—or warmer than—today,” said WHOI geochronologist William G. Thompson, lead author of the study. “If today’s ice sheets continue to melt, we may be headed for a period of ice sheet and sea-level change that is more dynamic than current observations of ice sheets suggest.”

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The finding of a significant sea-level oscillation 120,000 years ago is in sharp contrast to the last 5,000 years, where sea level has been relatively stable. “It appears that the smaller ice sheets of the Last Interglacial were significantly less stable than today’s ice sheets,” Thompson said.

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1253