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Nineteenth and twentieth century sea-level changes in Tasmania and New Zealand
journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-17, 13:29 authored by Gehrels, WR, Callard, SL, Moss, PT, Marshall, WA, Blaauw, M, John HunterJohn Hunter, Milton, JA, Garnett, MHPositive deviations from linear sea-level trends represent important climate signals if they are persistent and geographically widespread. This paper documents rapid sea-level rise reconstructed from sedimentary records obtained from salt marshes in the Southwest Pacific region (Tasmania and New Zealand). A new late Holocene relative sea-level record from eastern Tasmania was dated by AMS14C (conventional, high precision and bomb-spike), 137Cs, 210Pb, stable Pb isotopic ratios, trace metals, pollen and charcoal analyses. Palaeosea-level positions were determined by foraminiferal analyses. Relative sea level in Tasmania was within half a metre of present sea level for much of the last 6000 yr. Between 1900 and 1950 relative sea level rose at an average rate of 4.2 ± 0.1 mm/yr. During the latter half of the 20th century the reconstructed rate of relative sea-level rise was 0.7 ± 0.6 mm/yr. Our study is consistent with a similar pattern of relative sea-level change recently reconstructed for southern New Zealand. The change in the rate of sea-level rise in the SW Pacific during the early 20th century was larger than in the North Atlantic and could suggest that northern hemisphere land-based ice was the most significant melt source for global sea-level rise.
History
Publication title
Earth and Planetary Science LettersVolume
315Pagination
94-102ISSN
0012-821XDepartment/School
Institute for Marine and Antarctic StudiesPublisher
Elsevier Science BvPlace of publication
Po Box 211, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 1000 AeRights statement
2011 Elsevier B.V.Repository Status
- Restricted