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Predicted Relative Sea-Level Changes (18,000 Years B.P. to Present) Caused by Late-Glacial Retreat of the Antarctic Ice Sheet

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

James A. Clark  and
Craig S. Lingle
James A. Clark
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853 USA
Craig S. Lingle
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853 USA
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Abstract

Predictions of global changes in relative sea level caused by retreat of the Antarctic Ice Sheet from its 18,000 yr B.P. maximum to its present size are calculated numerically. When combined with the global predictions of relative sea-level change resulting from retreat of the Northern Hemisphere ice sheets, the results may be compared directly to observations of sea-level change on the Antarctic continent as well as at distant localities. The comparison of predictions to the few observations of sea-level change on Antarctica supports the view that the Antarctic Ice Sheet was larger 18,000 years ago than at present. The contribution of the Antarctic Ice Sheet to the total eustatic sea-level rise is assumed to be 25 m (25% of the assumed total eustatic rise). If as little as 0.7 m of this 25-m rise occurred between 5000 yr B.P. and the present, few mid-oceanic islands would emerge. If the Antarctic Ice Sheet attained its present dimensions by 6000 yr B.P., however, and if the volume of the ocean has remained constant for the past 5000 years, numerous islands throughout the Southern Hemisphere would emerge. It is suggested that a thorough study of Pacific islands, believed by some to have slightly emerged shorelines of Holocene age, would yield useful information about ocean volume changes during the past 5000 years, and hence on the glacial history of the Antarctic Ice Sheet.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 11 , Issue 3 , May 1979 , pp. 279 - 298
Copyright
University of Washington

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