There was an interesting paper from Science last week concerning sea-level rise in and around the Younger Dryas. It looks as though there may have been a relatively small — but dramatically fast– rise in Sea-Level just before the YD:
Abstract:
Reconstructing sea-level changes during the last deglaciation provides a way of understanding the ice dynamics thatcan perturb large continental ice sheets. The resolution of the few sea-level records covering the critical time interval between 14 and 9 thousand calendar years before the present (cal kyr B.P.) is still insufficient to draw conclusions about sea-level changes associated with the Younger Dryas (YD) cold event and the meltwater pulse 1B (MWP-1B). Here, we use the U-Th method to date shallow-living corals from three new cores drilled onshore in the Tahiti barrierreef. No significant discontinuity can be detected in the sea-level rise during the MWP-1B period. The new Tahiti sea-level record shows that the sea-level rise slowed down during the YD before accelerating again during the Holocene.
In addition, the coral data plotted in Fig. 1 could suggest asmall step (<6 m) in sea level near the onset of the YD eventat around 13 kyr B.P. (arrow in Fig. 1). This small step alsocorresponds to a rate change both in the Barbados and Tahitirecords. At Huon, this period is covered by only a few coralsthat could possibly be fitted with a small step. However, theexistence of such a structure is within the overall uncertaintyof the approach (see details in SOM Text 2) and thus remainsspeculative
5 Responses
Could this rather sudden sea level rise just before the YD mean that as I suspect there was a significant ocean impact event that with huge Tsunami waves may have encroached upon sea ice and glaciers surrounding the ocean basins. And/or alternatively perhaps, before the onset of “Sudden Cold” there was a great warming associated with entry of comet showers into the Earth’s atmosphere? Both are highly speculative ideas, but what is certain is that there was some extremely unusual happenings right around the 13,000 BP date.
If you want to come off as knowing what you are talking about you need to quit with simple mistakes. Poly Sci? I do not think I need to go any further.
JD
Thanks Jacques! I hope to also add a general comments forum (or some such) so you do not have to comment on individual posts to criticize The Tusk in general. Keep me on my toes!
Hi George: Do you happen to have the reference for the Younger Dryas sea level rise paper you have cited here? Thanks Rod
Hey Rod. Just click the link at the top of the box with the paper’s name. It is kinda faint on some screens.