Abstract
The geography of the geoid1 and the lack of an acceptable methodology and definition of terms for sea-level studies have impeded the realization of the objectives of the International Geological Correlation Programme Project 61 on Holocene Sea-Level Changes2; these were to establish a graph of the trend of mean sea level over the globe and the relationship between sea level, climate change and the global ice budget2. A solution to the problems of correlation is proposed here. The use of terms ‘transgression’ and ‘regression’ has been a major cause of misinterpretation2 and the terms ‘transgressive overlap’ and ‘regressive overlap’ have been proposed as descriptive lithostratigraphic terms, in which no process is implied3–5. The processes involved in the development of coastal stratigraphical sequences are dependent on the position and rate of change of sea level, and these sequences contain evidence of tendencies of sea level6–8. The application of the concept of sea-level tendency permits meaningful correlations between rising and subsiding areas, and introduces an objectivity to correlation schemes showing ‘transgression sequences’9,10.
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Shennan, I., Tooley, M., Davis, M. et al. Analysis and interpretation of Holocene sea-level data. Nature 302, 404–406 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1038/302404a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/302404a0
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