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The early Holocene sea level rise (EHSLR) was a significant jump in
sea level
Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...
by about during the early
Holocene
The Holocene () is the current geologic time scale, geological epoch, beginning approximately 11,700 years ago. It follows the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene to ...
, between about 12,000 and 7,000 years ago, spanning the Eurasian
Mesolithic
The Mesolithic (Ancient Greek language, Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic i ...
. The rapid rise in sea level and associated
climate change
Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...
, notably the
8.2 ka cooling event (8,200 years ago),
and the loss of coastal land favoured by early farmers, may have contributed to the spread of the
Neolithic Revolution to Europe in
its Neolithic period.
During
deglaciation since the
Last Glacial Maximum
The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), also referred to as the Last Glacial Coldest Period, was the most recent time during the Last Glacial Period where ice sheets were at their greatest extent between 26,000 and 20,000 years ago.
Ice sheets covered m ...
, between about 20,000 to 7,000 years ago (20–7 ka), the sea level rose
by a total of about , at times at extremely high rates, due to the rapid melting of the
British-Irish Sea,
Fennoscandian,
Laurentide,
Barents-Kara,
Patagonian,
Innuitian and parts of the
Antarctic
The Antarctic (, ; commonly ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the South Pole, lying within the Antarctic Circle. It is antipodes, diametrically opposite of the Arctic region around the North Pole.
The Antar ...
ice sheets.
At the onset of deglaciation about 19,000 years ago, a brief, at most 500-year long, glacio-eustatic event may have contributed as much as to sea level with an average rate of about /yr.
During the rest of the early Holocene, the rate of sea level rise varied from a low of about /yr to as high as /yr during brief periods of accelerated sea level rise.
Solid geological evidence, based largely upon analysis of deep cores of
coral reefs
A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups.
...
, exists only for three major periods of accelerated sea level rise, called ''meltwater pulses'', during the last deglaciation. The first,
Meltwater pulse 1A, lasted between c. 14.6–14.3 ka and was a rise over about 290 years centered at 14.2 ka.
The EHSLR spans Meltwater pulses 1B and 1C, between 12,000 and 7,000 years ago:
*
Meltwater pulse 1B between c. 11.4–11.1 ka, a rise over about 160 years centered at 11.1 ka, which includes the end of
Younger Dryas
The Younger Dryas (YD, Greenland Stadial GS-1) was a period in Earth's geologic history that occurred circa 12,900 to 11,700 years Before Present (BP). It is primarily known for the sudden or "abrupt" cooling in the Northern Hemisphere, when the ...
interval of reduced sea level rise at about /yr;
*Meltwater pulse 1C between c.
8.2–7.6 ka, centered at
8.0 ka, a rise of in less than 140 years.
Such rapid rates of sea level rising during
meltwater events clearly implicate major ice-loss events related to ice sheet collapse. The primary source may have been meltwater from the Antarctic ice sheet. Other studies suggest a Northern Hemisphere source for the meltwater in the Laurentide Ice Sheet.
There is a hypothesis that the EHSLR left some traces in the mythology like flood myths and oral history of Australian Aborigines.
See also
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References
Citations
Bibliography
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{{refend
Sea level
Holocene
Last Glacial Period
Mesolithic
Neolithic