Reconsidering melt-water pulses 1A and 1B: Global impacts of rapid sea-level rise

• Published in: Journal of Ocean University of China 2004-10, Vol.3 (2), p.183-190
• Main Authors: Liu, J. Paul, Milliman, John D.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Heat transport; Marine; Marine geology; Meltwater; Ocean circulation; Oceanography; Sea level; Studies; Thermohaline circulation; Water circulation; Water depth
• ISSN: 1672-5182; 1993-5021; 1672-5174
• DOI: 10.1007/s11802-004-0033-8

Re-evaluation of the post-glacial sea level derived from the Barbados coral-reef borings suggests slightly revised depth ranges and timing of melt-water pulses MWP-1A (96-76m, 14.3-14.0ka cal BP) and IB (58-45m, 11.5-11.2ka cal BP), respectively. Ages of non-reef sea-level indicators from the Sunda Shelf, the East China Sea and Yellow Sea for these two intervals are unreliable because of the well-documented radiocarbon (^sup 14^C) plateau, but their vertical clustering corresponds closely with MWP-1A and IB depth ranges. Close correlation of the revised sea-level curve with Greenland ice-core data suggests that the ^sup 14^C plateau may be related to oceanographic-atmospheric changes due to rapid sea-level rise, fresh-water input, and impaired ocean circulation. MWP-1A appears to have occurred at the end of Bølling Warm Transition, suggesting that the rapid sea-level rise may have resulted from lateral heat transport from low to high-latitude regions and subsequent abrupt ice-sheet collapses in both North America-Europe and Antarctica. An around 70 mm a^sup -1^ transgression during MWP-1A may have increased freshwater discharge to the North Atlantic by as much as an order of magnitude, thereby disturbing thermohaline circulation and initiating the Older Dry as global cooling.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]