An Introduction to Causes and Consequences of Cretaceous Sea-Level Changes (IGCP 609)
- Author(s)
- Michael Wagreich, Benjamin Sames, Malcolm Hart, Ismail Ömer Yilmaz
- Abstract
The International Geoscience Programme Project IGCP 609 addressed correlation, causes and consequences of short-term sea-level fluctuations during the Cretaceous. Processes causing several ka to several Ma (third-to fourth-order) sea-level oscillations during the Cretaceous are so far poorly understood. IGCP 609 proved the existence of sea-level cycles during potential ice sheet-free greenhouse to hothouse climate phases. These sea-level fluctuations were most probably controlled by aquifer-eustasy that is altering land-water storage owing to groundwater aquifer charge and discharge. The project investigated Cretaceous sea-level cycles in detail in order to differentiate and quantify both short-and long-term records based on orbital cyclicity. High-resolution sea-level records were correlated to the geological timescale resulting in a hierarchy of sea-level cycles in the longer Milankovitch band, especially in the 100 ka, 405 ka, 1.2 Ma and 2.4 Ma range. The relation of sea-level highs and lows to palaeoclimate events, palaeoenvironments and biota was also investigated using multiproxy studies. For a hothouse Earth such as the mid-Cretaceous, humid–arid climate cycles controlling groundwater-related sea-level change were evidenced by stable isotope data, correlation to continental lake-level records and humid–arid weathering cycles.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Geology
- External organisation(s)
- Plymouth University , Middle East Technical University, Ankara University
- Journal
- Geological Society Special Publications
- Volume
- 498
- Pages
- 1-8
- No. of pages
- 8
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1144/SP498-2019-156
- Publication date
- 2020
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 105204 Climatology, 105121 Sedimentology, 105123 Stratigraphy, 105306 Oceanography
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Water Science and Technology, Ocean Engineering, Geology
- Sustainable Development Goals
- SDG 13 - Climate Action
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/a917a8b1-89e6-4c8f-a005-d87ec5e44a42