High tide of the warm Pliocene: implications of global sea level for Antarctic deglaciation

• Published in: Geology
• Main Authors: Miller, Kenneth G., Wright, James D., Browning, James V., Kulpecz, Andrew, Kominz, Michelle, Naish, Tim R., Cramer, Benjamin S., Rosenthal, Yair, Peltier, W. Richard, Sosdian, Sindia
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Geological Society of America 2012
• Subjects: GC Oceanography; QE Geology; Antarctic; East Antarctic Ice Sheet; Greenland; New Zealand; Pacific; Antarc*; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/49554/; https://doi.org/10.1130/G32869.1

We obtained global sea-level (eustatic) estimates with a peak of ∼22 m higher than present for the Pliocene interval 2.7–3.2 Ma from backstripping in Virginia (United States), New Zealand, and Enewetak Atoll (north Pacific Ocean), benthic foraminiferal δ18O values, and Mg/Ca-δ18O estimates. Statistical analysis indicates that it is likely (68% confidence interval) that peak sea level was 22 ± 5 m higher than modern, and extremely likely (95%) that it was 22 ± 10 m higher than modern. Benthic foraminiferal δ18O values appear to require that the peak was <20–21 m. Our estimates imply loss of the equivalent of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets, and some volume loss from the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, and address the long-standing controversy concerning the Pliocene stability of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet.