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Holocene Sea-Level Rise Recorded by a Radiocarbon-Dated Mussel in a Submerged Speleothem beneath the Mediterranean Sea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Fabrizio Antonioli  and
Marco Oliverio
Fabrizio Antonioli
Affiliation:
Department of Environment, ENEA Casaccia, Via Anguillarese 301, I-00060, Rome, Italy
Marco Oliverio
Affiliation:
Department of Animal and Human Biology, “La Sapienza” Rome University 1, Viale dell'Università 32, I-00185, Rome, Italy
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Abstract

Fossil shells of the boring mussel Lithophaga lithophaga provide a means for dating changes in relative sea level. These bivalves, being among the first colonizers of bare calcareous substrates, can mark the earliest stages of marine submergence of caves. Here we report data concerning the deepest submerged speleothem presently sampled in a temperate area, at 48 m below present sea level off the west coast of Italy (Mediterranean Sea). A fossil mussel shell beneath encrusting layers from later marine colonists gave an AMS age of 9580 ± 35 14C yr B.P. (10,253 ± 72 cal yr B.P.).

Type
Short Paper
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 45 , Issue 2 , March 1996 , pp. 241 - 244
Copyright
University of Washington

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