Introduction
One of the most fundamental geological observations has been that the seas once inundated large areas of the Earth’s surface that are now exposed on land. Early observers attributed these marine incursions to one or multiple “Noachian” floods, but empirical science prevailed as uniformitarian concepts were applied to the stratigraphic record. Charles Lyell (1830) recognized that changes in sea level due to volcanic activity were responsible for the submergence and subsequent emergence of the temple at Serapis near Naples, Italy (see discussion by Gould, 1999). Observing cycles of shallow-water sedimentation across Europe, Lyell reasoned that apparent rises in sea level could explain the flooding of the continents (geologists call these “transgressions”) and the subsequent retreat of the seas (called “regressions”). For over a century after Lyell’s work, geologists mapped these advances and retreats of the sea, noting that during intervals such as the middle Cretaceous...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsBibliography
Aubry, M.-P., 1985. Northern European Paleogene magnetostratigraphy, biostratigraphy and paleogeography: Calcareous nannofossil evidence. Geology, 13, 198–202.
Bard, E., Hamelin, B., Arnold, M., Montaggioni, L.F., Cabioch, G., Faure, G., and Rougerie, F., 1996. Deglacial sea-level record from Tahiti corals and the timing of global meltwater discharge. Nature, 382, 1996.
Browning, J.V., Miller, K.G., and Pak, D.K., 1996. Global implications of Eocene greenhouse and doubthouse sequences on the New Jersey coastal plain – The icehouse cometh. Geology, 24, 639–642.
Chappell, J., Omura, A., Esat, T., McMulloch, M., Pandelfi, J., Ota, Y., and Pillans, B., 1996. Reconciliation of late Quaternary sea levels derived from coral terraces at Huon Peninsula with deep sea oxygen isotope records. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 141, 227–236.
Christie-Blick, N., Mountain, G.S., and Miller, K.G., 1990. Seismic stratigraphic record of sea-level change. In Sea-level Change. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, pp. 116–140.
Church, J.A., Gregory, J.M., Huybrechts, P., et al., 2001. Changes in sea level. In Houghton, J.T., Ding, Y., Griggs, D.J., et al., (eds), Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 639–693.
Davies, K.A., McKenzie, P.J., Palmer-Julson, A., et al., 1993. In Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, Scientific Results, vol. 133: College Station, TX.
Donovan, D.T., and Jones, E.J.W., 1979. Causes of world-wide changes in sea level. J. Geol. Soc. Lond., 136, 187–192.
Eberli, G.P., Swart, P.K., Malone, M.J., et al., 1997. In Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, Initial Reports, vol. 166, College Station, TX.
Fairbanks, R.G., 1989. 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.
Fairbanks, R.G., and Matthews, R.K., 1978. The marine oxygen isotopic record in Pleistocene coral, Barbados, West Indies. Quaternary Res., 10, 181–196.
Gale, A.S., Hardenbol, J., Hathaway, B., Kennedy, W.J., Young, J.R., and Phansalkar, V., 2002. Global correlation of Cenomanian (Upper Cretaceous) sequences: Evidence for Milankovitch control on sea level. Geology, 30, 291–294.
Grabau, A.W., 1936. Oscillation of pulsation. Report of the XVI session, International Geological Congress, Washington, 1933, vol. 1, pp. 539–553.
Gould, S.J., 1999. Pozzuoli’s pillars revisited. Nat. Hist., 24, 81–91.
Hallam, A., 1992. Phanerozoic Sea-level Changes. New York: Columbia University Press, 266pp.
Hancock, J.M., 1993. Transatlantic correlations in the Campanian-Maastrichtian stages by eustatic changes of sea-level. In Hailwood, E.A., and Kidd, R.B. (eds.), High resolution stratigraphy. London: Geological Society, pp. 241–256.
Haq, B.U., Hardenbol, J., and Vail, P.R., 1987. Chronology of fluctuating sea levels since the Triassic (250 million years ago to present). Science, 235, 1156–1167.
Hays, J.D., and Pitman, W.C. III., 1973. Lithospheric plate motion, sea level changes, and climatic and ecological consequences. Nature, 246, 18–22.
Isern, A.R., Anselmetti, F.S., Blum, P., et al., 2002. Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, Initial Reports, vol. 194, College Station, TX. Available at: http://www-odp.tamu.edu/publications/194_IR/194ir.htm.
Kominz, M.A., 1984. Oceanic ridge volumes and sea-level change – An error analysis. In Schlee, J.S. (ed.), Interregional Unconformities and Hydrocarbon Accumulation. Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol., Memoir, 36, pp. 108–127.
Kominz, M.A., and Pekar, S.F., 2001. Oligocene eustasy from two-dimensional sequence stratigraphic backstripping. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 113, 291–304.
Kominz, M.A., Miller, K.G., and Browning, J.V., 1998. Long-term and short-term global Cenozoic sea-level estimates. Geology, 26, 311–314.
Lyell, C., 1830. Principles of Geology: Being an attempt to explain the former changes of the Earth’s surface, by reference to causes now in operation, London: John Murray.
Mancini, E.A., and Tew, B.H., 1991. Relationships of Paleogene stages and planktonic foraminiferal zone boundaries to lithostratigraphic and allostratigraphic contacts in the eastern Gulf Coastal Plain. J. Foraminiferal Res., 21, 48–66.
Mancini, E.A., and Tew, B.H., 1995. Geochronology, biostratigraphy and sequence stratigraphy of a marginal marine to marine shelf stratigraphic succession: Upper Paleocene and lower Eocene, Wilcox Group, eastern Gulf Coastal Plain, USA. In Berggren, W.A., Kent, D.V., Aubry, M.-P., Hard Enbol, J. (eds.), Geochronology, Time Scales and Global Stratigraphic Correlation. Society of Economic Paleontology and Mineralogy (SEPM) Special publication 54, pp. 281–293.
Miller, K.G., and Mountain, G.S., 1994. Global sea-level change and the New Jersey margin. Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, Initial Reports, vol. 150, College Station, TX, pp. 11–20.
Miller, K.G., Mountain, G.S., the Leg 150 Shipboard Party, and Members of the New Jersey Coastal Plain Drilling Project, 1996, drilling and dating New Jersey Oligocene-Miocene sequences: Ice volume, global sea level, and Exxon records. Science, 271, 1092–1094.
Miller, K.G., Mountain, G.S., and Tucholke, B.E., 1985. Oligocene glacio-eustasy and erosion on the margins of the North Atlantic. Geology, 13, 1–13.
Miller, K.G., Mountain, G.S., Browning, J.V., Kominz, M., Sugarman, P.J., Christie-Blick, N., Katz, M.E., and Wright, J.D., 1998. Cenozoic global sea level, sequences, and the New Jersey transect: Results from coastal plain and continental slope drilling. Rev. Geophys., 36, 569–601.
Miller, K.G., Barrera, E., Olsson, R.K., Sugarman, P.J., and Savin, S.M., 1999. Does ice drive early Maastrichtian eustasy? Global δ 18O and New Jersey sequences. Geology, 27, 783–786.
Miller, K.G., Sugarman, P.J., Browning, J.V., Kominz, M.A., Hernández, J.C., Olsson, R.K., Wright, J.D., Feigenson, M.D., and Van Sickel, W., 2003. A Late Cretaceous chronology of large, rapid sea-level changes: Glacioeustasy during the greenhouse world. Geology, 585–588.
Miller, K.G., Sugarman, P.J., Browning, J.V., Kominz, M.A., Olsson, R.K., Feigenson, M.D., and Hernandez, J.C., 2004. Upper Cretaceous sequences and sea level history, New Jersey coastal plain: Chronology, facies, and sea level. GSA Bull., 116, 368–393.
Miller, K.G., Kominz, M.A., Browning, J.V., Wright, J.D., Mountain, G.S., Katz, M.E., Sugarman, P.J., Cramer, B.S., Christie-Blick, N., and Pekar, S.F., 2005, The Phanerozoic record of global sea-level change: Science, v. 310, p. 1293–1298.
Olsson, R.K., 1991. Cretaceous to Eocene sea-level fluctuations on the New Jersey margin. Sediment. Geol., 70, 195–208.
Pitman, W.C. III, and Golovchenko, X., 1983. The effect of sea-level change on the shelf edge and slope of passive margins. Society of Economic Paleontology and Mineralogy (SEPM) Special publication 33, pp. 41–58.
Psuty, N.P., and Collins, M., 1986. Holocene sea level in New Jersey. Phys. Geogr., 7, 156–167.
Rowley, D.B., 2002. Rate of plate creation and destruction: 180 Ma to present. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 114(8), 927–933.
Sahagian, D., Pinous, O., Olferiev, A., Zakaharov, V., and Beisel, A., 1996. Eustatic curve for the middle Jurassic-Cretaceous based on Russian platform and Siberian stratigraphy: Zonal resolution. Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Bull., 80, 1433–1458.
Sloss, L.L., 1963. Sequences in the cratonic interior of North America. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 74, 93–114.
Stille, H., 1924. Grundfragen der Vergleichenden Tektonik. Berlin: Borntraeger.
Stoll, H.M., and Schrag, D.P., 1996. Evidence for glacial control of rapid sea level changes in the early Cretaceous. Science, 272, 1771–1774.
Suess, E., 1885. Da Antlitz de Erde, 1. Prague: F. Tempsky.
Vail, P.R., Mitchum, R.M. Jr., Todd, R.G., Widmier, J.M., Thompson, S. III., Sangree, J.B., Bubb, J.N., and Hatlelid, W.G., 1977. Seismic stratigraphy and global changes of sea level. In Payton, C.E. (ed.), Seismic Stratigraphy – Applications to Hydrocarbon Exploration. Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Mem., 26, 49–212.
Van Sickel, W.A, Kominz, M.A., Miller, K.G., and Browning, J.V., 2004. Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic sea-level estimates backstripping analysis of borehole data, onshore New Jersey. Basin Res., 16, 451–465.
Watts, A.B., and Steckler, M.S., 1979. Subsidence and eustasy at the continental margin of eastern North America. AGU Maurice Ewing Ser., 3, 218–234.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 Springer-Verlag
About this entry
Cite this entry
Miller, K.G. (2009). Sea Level Change, Last 250 Million Years. In: Gornitz, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Paleoclimatology and Ancient Environments. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4411-3_206
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4411-3_206
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-4551-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-4411-3
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences