Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T06:53:21.135Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Sea-Level History, 45,000 to 30,000 yr B.P., Inferred from Benthic Foraminifera, Gulf St. Vincent, South Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

John H. Cann ,
Antonio P. Belperio ,
Victor A. Gostin  and
Colin V. Murray-Wallace
John H. Cann
Affiliation:
School of Pure and Applied Sciences, Salisbury Campus of South Australian College of Advanced Education, Smith Road, Salisbury East 5109, Australia
Antonio P. Belperio
Affiliation:
Department of Mines and Energy, P.O. Box 151, Eastwood 5063, Australia
Victor A. Gostin
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Adelaide, G.P.O. Box 498, Adelaide 5001, Australia
Colin V. Murray-Wallace
Affiliation:
N. W. G. Macintosh Centre for Quaternary Dating, University of Sydney, Sydney 2006, Australia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Surficial sediments of Gulf St. Vincent, South Australia, are predominantly bioclastic, cool-temperate carbonates. Benthic foraminifera are abundant and distribution of species is closely related to water depth. For example, Massilina milletti is most common at depths ca. 40 m, while Discorbis dimidiatus is characteristics of shallow, subtidal environments. Elphidium crispum, a shallow-water species, and E. macelliforme, favoring deeper water, provide a useful numerical ratio. Their logarithmic relative abundance, in the sediment size fraction 0.50–0.25 mm, correlates strongly with water depth. Vibrocores SV 4 and SV 5 recovered undisturbed sections of Quaternary strata from the deepest part (ca. 40 m) of Gulf St. Vincent. Amino acid racemization and radiocarbon age determinations show that late Pleistocene sections of the cores were deposited over the time ca. 45,000 to 30,000 yr B.P. Species of fossil foraminifera, recovered from these sections, are mostly extant in modern Gulf St. Vincent, thus allowing paleoecological inferences of late Pleistocene sea levels. These inferred sea-level maxima can be correlated with those determined from study of Huon Peninsula coral reef terraces. Initial estimates of tectonically corrected sea levels for transgressions in Gulf St. Vincent at 40,000 and 31,000 yr B.P. are −22.5 m and −22 m, respectively. The intervening regression lowered sea level to −28 m.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 29 , Issue 2 , March 1988 , pp. 153 - 175
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1982 Beard, J.H., Sangree, J.B., Smith, L.A., Quaternary chronology, palaeoclimate, depositional sequences and eustatic cycles. Bulletin of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. 66 158–169.Google Scholar
1985 Belperio, A.P., Quaternary geology of the Point and Outer Harbor-St. Kilda areas, Gulf St. Vincent. Quaterly Geological Notes, Geological Survey of South Australia. 96 2–6.Google Scholar
1986 Belperio, A.P., Cann, J.H., Gostin, V.A., Quaternary stratigraphy and coastal sedimentary environments, Northern Gulf St. Vincent, South Australia. Parker, A.J., One Day Geological Excursions of the Adelaide Region. Geological Society of Australia, Adelaide, 83–98.Google Scholar
1987 Belperio, A.P., Gostin, V.A., Cann, J.H., Murray-Wallace, C.V., Sediment-organism zonation and the evolution of Holocene tidal sequences in southern Australia. de Boer, P.I., van Gelder, A., Nio, S.D., Proceedings of the International Symposium on Modern and Ancient Tidal Deposits. Reidel, Dordecht.Google Scholar
1983 Belperio, A.P., Hails, J.R., Gostin, V.A., A review of Holocene sea levels in South Australia. Hopley, D., Australian Sea Levels in the Last 15,000 Years: A Review. Department of Geography, James Cook University of North Queensland Monograph Series, Occasional Paper 3. 37–47.Google Scholar
1984 Belperio, A.P., Smith, B.W., Polach, H.A., Nittrouer, C.A., DeMaster, D.J., Prescott, J.R., Hails, J.R., Gostin, V.A., Chronological studies of the Quaternary marine sediments of northern Spencer Gulf, South Australia. Marine Geology. 61 265–296.Google Scholar
1984 Billing, N.B., Palaeosol development in Quaternary marine sediments and palaeoclimatic interpretations, Spencer Gulf, South Australia. Marine Geology. 61 315–343.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1974 Bloom, A.L., Broecker, W.S., Chappell, J.M.A., Matthews, R.K., Mesolella, K.J., Quaternary sea level fluctuations on a tectonic coast: New 230Th234U dates from the Huon Peninsula, New Guinea. Quaternary Research. 4 185–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1976 Bye, J.A.T., Physical oceanography of Gulf St. Vincent and Investigator Strait. Twidale, C.R., Tyler, M.J., Webb, B.P., Natural History of the Adelaide Region. Royal Society of South Australia, Adelaide.Google Scholar
1978 Cann, J.H., An exposed reference section for the Glanville Formation. Quarterly Geological Notes, Geological Survey of South Australia. 65 2–4.Google Scholar
1985 Cann, J.H., Gostin, V.A., Coastal sedimentary facies and foraminiferal biofacies of the St Kilda Formation at Port Gawler, South Australia. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia. 109 121–142.Google Scholar
1986 Cann, J.H., Murray-Wallace, C.V., Holocene distribution and amino acid racemisation of the benthic foraminifer Massilina milletti, northern Spencer Gulf, South Australia. Alcheringa. 10 45–54.Google Scholar
1974a Chappell, J., Geology of Coral Terraces, Huon Peninsula, New Guinea. A study of Quaternary tectonic movements and sea level changes. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America. 85 553–570.Google Scholar
1974b Chappell, J., Relationships between sea levels, 18O variations and orbital perturbations, during the past 250,000 years. Nature (London). 252 199–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1983 Chappell, J., A revised sea level record for the last 300,000 years from Papua New Guinea. Search. 14 99–101.Google Scholar
1986 Chappell, J., Shackleton, N.J., Oxygen isotopes and sea level. Nature (London). 324 137–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1978 Chappell, J., Veeh, H.H., 230Th234U age support for an interstadial sea level of −40 m at 30,000 yr B.P.. Nature (London). 276 602–603.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1978 Clark, J.A., Farrell, W.E., Peltier, W.R., Global changes in sea level: A numerical calculation. Quaternary Research. 9 265–287.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1976 Daily, B., Firman, J.B., Forbes, B.G., Lindsay, J.M., Geology. Twidale, C.R., Tyler, M.J., Webb, B.P., Natural History of the Adelaide Region. Royal Society of South Australia, Adelaide.Google Scholar
1961 Emiliani, C., Cenozoic climatic changes as indicated by the stratigraphy and chronology of deep sea cores of Globigerina-ooze facies. Annals of the New York Academy of Science. 95 521–536.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1972 Emiliani, C., Quaternary palaeotemperatures and the duration of the high temperature intervals. Science. 178 398–401.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1978 Frank, H., Nicholson, G.J., Bayer, E., Enantiomer labelling, a method for the quantitative analysis of amino acids. Journal of Chromatography. 167 187–196.Google Scholar
1984a Hails, J.R., Belperio, A.P., Gostin, V.A., Quaternary sea levels, northern Spencer Gulf, Australia. Marine Geology. 61 373–389.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1984b Hails, J.R., Belperio, A.P., Gostin, V.A., Sargent, G.E.G., The submarine Quaternary stratigraphy of northern Spencer Gulf, Australia. Marine Geology. 61 345–372.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1982 Kidson, C., Sea level changes in the Holocene. Quaternary Science Reviews. 1 121–151.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1984 Kimber, R.W.L., Milnes, A.R., The extent of racemisation of amino acids in Holocene and Pleistocene marine molluscs in southern South Australia: Preliminary data on a time-framework for calcrete formation. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences. 31 279–286.Google Scholar
1979 Kvenvolden, K.A., Blunt, D.J., Clifton, H.E., Amino acid reacemization in Quaternary shell deposits at Willapa Bay, Washington. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. 43 1505–1520.Google Scholar
1984 Ludbrook, N.H., Quaternary Molluscs of South Australia. Department of Mines and Energy, South Australia, Handbook No. 9.Google Scholar
1976 Marshall, J.F., Thom, B.G., The sea level in the last interglacial. Nature (London). 263 120–121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
örner, 1971 Mörner, N.-A., The position of the ocean level during the interstadial at about 30,000 B.P.: A discussion from a climatic-glaciologic point of view. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 8 132–143.Google Scholar
örner, 1976 Mörner, N.-A., Eustasy and geoid change. Journal of Geology. 84 123–151.Google Scholar
1987 Murray-Wallace, C.V., Evaluation and Application of the Amino Acid Racemisation Reaction in Studies of Quaternary Coastal and Marine Sediments in Australia. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis. University of Adelaide.Google Scholar
1987 Murray-Wallace, C.V., Kimber, R.W.L., Application of the amino acid racemisation reaction to studies of Quaternary marine sediments in South Australia. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences. 34 279–292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1968 Olsson, I.U., Goksu, Y., Sternberg, A., Further investigations of storing and treatment of foraminifera and mollusks for C14 dating. Geologiska Foereningens: Stockholm Foerhandlinger. 90 417–426.Google Scholar
1985 Pickett, J.W., Thompson, C.H., Kelly, R.A., Roman, D., Evidence of high sea level during isotope stage 5C in Queensland, Australia. Quaternary Research. 24 103–114.Google Scholar
1984 Schwebel, D.A., Quaternary stratigraphy and sea-level variation in the southeast of South Australia. Thom, B.G., Coastal Geomorphology in Australia. Academic Press, Sydney/New York, 291–311.Google Scholar
1982 Shackleton, N.J., The deep-sea sediment record of climatic variability. Progress in Oceanography. 11 199–218.Google Scholar
1976 Shepherd, S.A., Sprigg, R.C., Substrate, sediments and subtidal ecology of Gulf St. Vincent and Investigator Strait. Twidale, C.R., Tyler, M.J., Webb, B.P., Natural History of the Adelaide Region. Royal Society of South Australia, Adelaide.Google Scholar
1973 Thom, B.G., The dilemma of high interstadial sea levels during the last glaciation. Progress in Geography. 5 170–246.Google Scholar
1979 Veeh, H.H., Schwebel, D., van de Graff, W.J.E., Denman, P.D., Uranium-series ages of coralline terrce deposits in Western Australia. Journal of the Geological Society of Australia. 26 285–292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1972 Walcott, R.I., Past sea level, eustasy and deformation of the Earth. Quaternary Research. 2 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1985 Ward, W.T., Correlation of East Australian Pleistocene shorelines with deep-sea core stages: A basis for a coastal chronology. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America. 96 1156–1166.Google Scholar
1984 Wynne, A.A., Fotheringham, D.G., Freeman, R., Moulds, B., Penney, S.W., Petrusevics, P., Tucker, R., Ellis, D.P., Adelaide Coast Protection Strategy Review. Department of Environment and Planning, Adelaide.Google Scholar