A highly resolved record of relative sea level in the western Mediterranean Sea during the last interglacial period

• Published in: Nature geoscience Vol. 11; no. 11; pp. 860 - 864
• Main Authors: Polyak, Victor J., Onac, Bogdan P., Fornós, Joan J., Hay, Carling, Asmerom, Yemane, Dorale, Jeffrey A., Ginés, Joaquín, Tuccimei, Paola, Ginés, Angel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.11.2018; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 704/106/2738; 704/106/413; 704/445/209; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Earth System Sciences; Geochemistry; Geology; Geophysics/Geodesy; Glaciation; Ice; Ice sheets; Interglacial periods; Isotopes; Oscillations; Sea level; Sea level changes; Sea level fluctuations; Sea level oscillations; Majorca; Mediterranean Sea
• ISSN: 1752-0894; 1752-0908
• DOI: 10.1038/s41561-018-0222-5

The magnitude and trajectory of sea-level change during marine isotope stage (MIS) 5e of the last interglacial period is uncertain. In general, sea level may have been 6–9 m above present sea level, with one or more oscillations of up to several metres superimposed. Here we present a well-dated relative sea-level record from the island of Mallorca in the western Mediterranean Sea for MIS-5e, based on the occurrence of phreatic overgrowths on speleothems forming near sea level. We find that relative sea-level in this region was within a range of 2.15 ± 0.75 m above present levels between 126,600 ± 400 and 116,000 ± 800 years ago, although centennial-scale excursions cannot be excluded due to some gaps in the speleothem record. We corrected our relative sea-level record for glacio-isostatic adjustment using nine different glacial isostatic models. Together, these models suggest that ice-equivalent sea-level in Mallorca peaked at the start of MIS-5e then gradually decreased and stabilized by 122,000 years ago, until the highstand termination 116,000 years ago. Our sea-level record does not support the hypothesis of rapid sea-level fluctuations within MIS-5e. Instead, we suggest that melting of the polar ice sheets occurred early in the interglacial period, followed by gradual ice-sheet growth. A sea-level record from Mallorca shows no evidence of large, millennial-scale oscillations during the last interglacial.