Sea-Level Highstand 81,000 Years Ago in Mallorca

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 327; no. 5967; pp. 860 - 863
• Main Authors: Dorale, Jeffrey A, Onac, Bogdan P, Fornós, Joan J, Ginés, Joaquin, Ginés, Angel, Tuccimei, Paola, Peate, David W
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Association for the Advancement of Science 12-02-2010; The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: Caves; Climate; Encrustation; Geological time; Geology; Glacial landforms; Glaciers; Ice; Insolation; Islands; Mallorca; Management information systems; Marine; Marine isotope stages; Measuring instruments; Paleoclimate science; Sea level; Speleothems; Topographical elevation; Mediterranean Sea; Manacor Mallorca
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.1181725

Global sea level and Earth's climate are closely linked. Using speleothem encrustations from coastal caves on the island of Mallorca, we determined that western Mediterranean relative sea level was approximately 1 meter above modern sea level approximately 81,000 years ago during marine isotope stage (MIS) 5a. Although our findings seemingly conflict with the eustatic sea-level curve of far-field sites, they corroborate an alternative view that MIS 5a was at least as ice-free as the present, and they challenge the prevailing view of MIS 5 sea-level history and certain facets of ice-age theory.