Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

A 17,000-year glacio-eustatic sea level record: influence of glacial melting rates on the Younger Dryas event and deep-ocean circulation

  • Article
  • Published:

From Nature

View current issue Submit your manuscript

Abstract

Coral reefs drilled offshore of Barbados provide the first continuous and detailed record of sea level change during the last deglaciation. The sea level was 121 ± 5 metres below present level during the last glacial maximum. The deglacial sea level rise was not monotonic; rather, it was marked by two intervals of rapid rise. Varying rates of melt-water discharge to the North Atlantic surface ocean dramatically affected North Atlantic deep-water production and oceanic oxygen isotope chemistry. A global oxygen isotope record for ocean water has been calculated from the Barbados sea level curve, allowing separation of the ice volume component common to all oxygen isotope records measured in deep-sea cores.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Lighty, R. G., Macintyre, I. G. & Stuckenrath, R. Coral Reefs 1, 125–130 (1982).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. Ruddiman, W. F. in North American and Adjacent Oceans During the Last Deglaciation (eds Ruddiman, W. F. & Wright, H. E. Jr) K-3 463–478 (Geol. Soc. Am., Boulder, 1987).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Ruddiman, W. F. in North American and Adjacent Oceans During the Last Deglaciation (eds Ruddiman, W. F. & Wright, H. E. Jr) K-3 137–154 (Geol. Soc. Am., Boulder, 1987).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Duplessy, J. C., Delibrias, G., Turon, J. L., Pujol, C. & Duprat, J. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 35, 121–144 (1981).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Fairbanks, R. G. & Matthews, R. K. Quat. Res. 10, 181–196 (1978).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Macintyre, I. G. Am. Ass. Petrol. Geol. Bull. 56, 720–738 (1972).

    Google Scholar 

  7. Clark, J. A., Farrell, W. E. & Peltier, W. R. Quat. Res. 9, 265–287 (1978).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Bard, E. Palaeoceanography 3, 635–645 (1988).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. Oeschger, H. et al. Radiocarbon 22, 299–310 (1980).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Edwards, R. L., Chen, J. H., Ku T.-L. & Wasserburg, G. L. Science 236, 1547–1553 (1987).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Duplessy, J.-C. et al. Nature 320, 350–352 (1986).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Bard, E. et al. Nature 328, 791–794 (1987).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  13. Milankovitch, M. M. Canon of Insolation and The Ice-Age problem (Koniglich Serbische Akademie, Beograd, 1941). English tranlation published by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the NSF, Washington, DC.

  14. Berger, A. L. Quat. Res. 35, 215–240 (1978).

    Google Scholar 

  15. Stuiver, M. et al. Radiocarbon 28, 969–979 (1986).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Andrews, J.T. in North American and Adjacent Oceans During the Last Deglaciation (eds Ruddiman, W. F. & Wright, H. E. Jr) K-3 13–38 (Geol. Soc. Am., Boulder, 1987).

    Google Scholar 

  17. Baumgartner, A. & Reichel, E. The World Water Balance (Elsevier, New York, 1975).

    Google Scholar 

  18. Ruddiman, W. F., Sancetta, C. D. & McIntyre, A. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B280, 119–142 (1977).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Ruddiman, W. F. & McIntyre, A. Science 212, 617–627 (1981).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Ruddiman, W. F. & McIntyre, A. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 35, 145–214 (1981).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Mercer, J. H. Arctic Alpine Res. 1, 227–234 (1969).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Johnson, R. G. & McClure, B. T. Quat. Res. 6, 325–353 (1976).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Mangerud, J., Lie, S. E., Furnes, H., Kristiansen, I. L. & Lomo, L. Quat. Res. 21, 85–104 (1984).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Spindler, M. & Dieckmann, G. S. Polar Biol. 5, 185–191 (1986).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Reynolds, L. & Thunell, R. C. J. Foraminiferal Res. 15, 282–301 (1985).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Schneider, S. H., Peteet, D. M. & North, G. R. in Abrupt Climate Change (eds Berger, W. H. & Labeyrie, L. D.) 399–418 (Reidel, Dordrecht, 1987).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  27. Broecker, W. S. et al. Palaeoceanography 3, 1–19 (1988).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  28. Broecker, W. S. et al. Nature 341, 318–321 (1989).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  29. Boyle, E. A. & Keigwin, L. Nature 330, 35–40 (1987).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Keigwin, L. D., Jones, G. A. Deep Sea Res. 36, 845–867 (1989).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Hammer, C. U., Clausen, H. B. & Tauber, H. Radiocarbon 28, 284–291 (1986).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Dansgaard, W., White, J. W. & Johnson, S. J. Nature 339, 532–534 (1989).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  33. Andree, M. et al. Radiocarbon 28, 417–423 (1986).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Bard, E. Quat. Res. 31, 381–391 (1989).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York, 10964, USA

    Richard G. Fairbanks

Authors
  1. Richard G. Fairbanks
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Fairbanks, R. A 17,000-year glacio-eustatic sea level record: influence of glacial melting rates on the Younger Dryas event and deep-ocean circulation. Nature 342, 637–642 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1038/342637a0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/342637a0

  • Springer Nature Limited

This article is cited by

Search

Navigation