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Holocene Sea-Level Changes Along the Strait of Magellan and Beagle Channel, Southernmost South America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Stephen C. Porter ,
Minze Stuiver  and
Calvin J. Heusser
Stephen C. Porter
Affiliation:
Quaternary Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195
Minze Stuiver
Affiliation:
Quaternary Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195
Calvin J. Heusser
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Box 608, New York University, Tuxedo, New York 10987
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Abstract

Radiocarbon-dated marine sediments from five coastal sites along the Strait of Magellan and Beagle Channel in southernmost Chile permit construction of a curve of relative sea-level fluctuations during the Holocene. Morphologic and stratigraphic data point to coastal submergence during the early Holocene as the sea rose to a maximum level at least 3.5 m higher than present about 5000 yr ago. Progressive emergence then followed during the late Holocene. Data from widely separated localities define a smooth curve, the form of which is explainable in terms of isostatic and hydroisostatic deformation of the crust resulting from changing ice and water loads. Apparently anomalous data from one site located more than 100 km behind the outer limit of the last glaciation may reflect isostatic response to deglaciation. The sea-level curve resembles one derived by Clark and Bloom (1979, In “Proceedings of the 1978 International Symposium on Coastal Evolution in the Quaternary, Sao Paulo, Brasil,” pp. 41–60. Sao Paulo) using a spherical Earth model, both in amplitude and in the timing of the maximum submergence.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 22 , Issue 1 , July 1984 , pp. 59 - 67
Copyright
University of Washington

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