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Late Quaternary Sea-Level Change in South Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Peter J. Ramsay  and
J. Andrew G. Cooper
Peter J. Ramsay
Affiliation:
Council for Geoscience, Marine Geoscience Unit, P.O. Box 18091, Dalbridge, 4041, Durban, South Africa
J. Andrew G. Cooper
Affiliation:
Coastal Studies Research Group, School of Environmental Studies University of Ulster, Coleraine, BT52 1SA, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, E-mail: JAG.Cooper@ulst.ac.uk
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Abstract

A Late Quaternary sea-level curve for South Africa is presented on the basis of new and published data from a range of sea level indicators and a variety of locations. Available evidence suggests that sea level in South Africa broadly follows that described from the Caribbean but that deviations occur during sea-level highstands. During the last interglaciation (oxygen isotope stage 5) and the late Holocene, coastal emergence produced higher sea levels in South Africa than those identified in the Caribbean during the same time intervals. This is tentatively ascribed to predicted lithospheric deformation in continental margin settings.

Keywords

South Africasea levelHoloceneLate Quaternary
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 57 , Issue 1 , January 2002 , pp. 82 - 90
Copyright
University of Washington

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