RT Journal Article
T1 Millennial/submillennial-scale sea-level fluctuations in western Mediterraneanduring the second highstand of MIS 5e
A1 Dabrio González, Cristino José
A1 Zazo Cardeña, Caridad
A1 Cabero del Río, Ana
A1 Goy Goy, José Luis
A1 Bardají Azcárate, Teresa
A1 Hillaire-Marcel, Claude
A1 González Delgado, José Ángel
A1 Lario Gómez, Javier
A1 Silva Barroso, Pablo Gabriel
A1 Borja, Francisco
A1 García Blázquez, Ana María
AB This paper investigates a series of small-scale, short-lived fluctuations of sea level registered in a progradingbarrier spit that grew during theMIS 5e. This interglacial includes three highstands (Zazo et al., 2003) andwe focus on the second highstand, of assumed duration ∼10  2 ka, given that UeTh ages do not providemore accurate data. Geometry and 3D architecture of beach facies, and thin-section petrography were usedto investigate eight exposed offlapping subunits separated by seven conspicuous erosion surfaces, allinterpreted as the result of repeated small-scale fluctuations of sea level.Each subunit records a relatively rapid rise of sea level that generated a gravelly shoreface with algalbioherms and a sandy uppermost shoreface and foreshore where most sand accumulated. A secondrange of still smaller-scaled oscillations of sea level has been deduced in this phase of sea-level fluctuationfrom lateral and vertical shifts of the foreshore-plunge-step-uppermost shoreface facies.Eventually, progradation with gently falling sea level took place and foreshore deposits underwentsuccessive vadose cementation and subaerial dissolution, owing to relatively prolonged exposure. Laterrecovery of sea level re-established the highstand with sea level at approximately the same elevation,and there began deposition of a new subunit. The minimum sea-level variation (fall and subsequent rise)required to generate the observed features is 4 m. The time span available for the whole succession ofevents, and comparison with the Holocene prograding beach ridge complex in the nearby Roquetas(Almería) were used to calculate the periodicity of events. A millennial-suborbital time scale is suggestedfor fluctuations separating subunits and a decadal scale for the minor oscillations inside each subunit.
PB Elsevier
SN 0277-3791
YR 2011
FD 2011
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/42218
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/42218
LA eng
DS Docta Complutense
RD 8 abr 2025