Postglacial change in sea level in the western North Atlantic Ocean
Redfield AC. 1967. Postglacial change in sea level in the western North Atlantic Ocean. Science. 157(3789):687-692
Radioactive carbon determinations of the age of peat indicate that at Bermuda, southern Florida, North Carolina, and Lousiana the relative sea level has risen at approximately the same rate, 2.5x10^-8 foot per year (0.76x10^-8 meter per year), during the past 4000 years. It is propopsed tentatively that this is the rate of eustatic change in sea level. The rise in sea level along the northearstern coast of the United States has been at a rate much greater than this, indicating local subsidence of the land. Between Cape Cod and northern Virginia, coastal subsidence of 13 feet appears to have occured between 4000 and 2000 years ago and has continued at a rate of about 1x10^-8 foot per year since then. On the northeastern coast of Massachusetts, subsidence of 6 feet occured between 4000 and 3000 years ago; since then sea level has risen at about the austatic rate. Between 12,000 and 4000 years ago, sea level rose at an average of about 11x10^-8 foot per year. The part played by local subsidence or temporary departures from teh average rate during this period is uncertain.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Redfield, Alfred
- Units
- CACO
- Keywords
- Changes, Coastal Geomorphology, Glaciation, Processes, Sea Level, Shoreline