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Sea Level Fluctuation During the Past 6000 yr at the Coast of Mauritania

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

G. Einsele ,
D. Herm  and
H.U. Schwarz
G. Einsele
Affiliation:
Geologisch-Paläontologisches Institut der Universität, Tübingen, W. Germany.
D. Herm
Affiliation:
Geologisch-Paläontologisches Institut der Universität, Tübingen, W. Germany.
H.U. Schwarz
Affiliation:
Geologisch-Paläontologisches Institut der Universität, 23 Kiel, W. Germany.
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Abstract

In an area regarded to be very favorable for the study of Holocene sea level changes one or several eustatic (?) oscillations of sea have been found using sedimentological and ecological methods. After a maximum of +3 m during the Nouakchottian stage (= Middle Flandrian or Late Atlantic) about 5500 YBP a drop of sea to −3.5 ± 0.5 m about 4100 YBP is testified by stromatolitic algae indicating the former sea level within the tidal zone with high accuracy. This evidence is supported by the observation of post-Nouakchottian regressive and transgressive geologic sequences, by buried beach deposits and flooded hardgrounds, post-Nouakchottian marine terraces of different height and age, the cutting off of one large and several small bays from the open sea, etc. Possibly one or two smaller oscillations followed between 4000 and 1500 YBP (derived sea level curve Fig. 3).

Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 4 , Issue 3 , September 1974 , pp. 282 - 289
Copyright
University of Washington

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References

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