The coastal record of sea-level changes during the interglacials of the last 450ka in the Spanish mediterranean coasts
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3989/egeol.45715.1133Keywords:
Marine terraces, Sea-level changes, Mediterranean littoral, Vertical movement ratesAbstract
The record of sea-level changes during the interglacials of the last 450 ka, (MIS-5, MIS-7, MIS-9 and MIS-11) is analyzed. Based on the knowledge obtained over the last 40 years, the sequences studied on the peninsular and insular Mediterranean coast are compared with the established sea level curves, allowing the calculation of vertical movement rates for each area. The comparison of these rates with those obtained in other areas of the Iberian Peninsula indicates that the highest uplift rates are recorded in Gibraltar, decreasing both eastwards and westwards, with another maximum at Cape San Vicente. This higher uplift trend is conditioned by the proximity to the boundary between the Iberian and Nubian microplate. The highest uplift rates on the Mediterranean coast are recorded in sequences locally affected by active faults associated to the Eastern Betic Shear Zone, and specifically to its southern and northern terminal splays. The rates calculated on the peninsular Mediterranean coasts for MIS-5, 9 and 11 show a moderate uplift with maxima never exceeding 0.1 mm/yr. The values calculated for MIS-7 generally show higher values (<0.2mm/yr) incongruent with those calculated for each sequence. The calculated rates for Mallorca (Campo de Tiro, Cala Blava) show a slight uplift or stability.
Downloads
References
Adkins, J.F., McIntyre, K. & Schrag, D.P. (2002). The salinity, temperature, and δ18O of the Glacial Deep Ocean. Science 298, 1769–1773.
Azañón, J.M. & Cabral, J. (2020). Active Processes in Iberia: An Introduction. In C. Quesada & J. T. Oliveira (Eds.), The Geology of Iberia: A Geodynamic Approach (pp. 1–3). Springer.
Bard, E., Antonioli, F. & Silenzi, S. (2002). Sea-level during the penultimate interglacial period based on a submerged stalagmite from Argentarola Cave (Italy). Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 196, 135-146.
Bardaji, T., Goy, J. L., Zazo, C., Hillaire-Marcel, C., Dabrio, C. J., Cabero, A., Ghaleb, B., Silva, P. G. & Lario, J. (2009). Sea level and climate changes during OIS 5e in the western Mediterranean. Geomorphology, 104, 22-37.
Bardaji, T., Cabero, A., Lario, J., Zazo, C., Silva, P. G., Goy, J. L. & Dabrio, C. J. (2015). Coseismic vs. climatic factors in the record of relative sea level changes: an example from the Last Interglacials in SE Spain. Quaternary Science Reviews, 113, 60-77.
Bardají, T. & Lario, J. (2022). Estadios isotópicos marinos. Estratigrafía de los isótopos del oxígeno. Cuaternario y Geomorfología, 36(3-4), 143-154.
Caputo, R. (2007). Sea-level curves: Perplexities of an end-user in morphotectonic applications. Global and Planetary Changes, 57, 417-423.
Causse, Ch., Goy, J. L., Zazo, C. & Hillaire-Marcel, C. (1993). Potentiel chronologique (Th/U) des faunes Pléistocènes méditerranéennes: Exemple des terrasses marines des regions de Murcie et Alicante (Sud-Est de l’Espagne). Geodinamica Acta, 6, 121–134.
Cerrone, C., Vacchi, M., Fontana, A. & Rovere, A. (2021) Last Interglacial sea-level proxies in the western Mediterranean. Earth System Science Data, 13, 4485–4527.
Coppier, G., Griveaud, P., Larouziere, F. D., Montenat, Ch. & Ott d’Estevou, P. (1989). Example of Neogene tectonic indentation in the Eastern Betic Cordilleras: The Arc of Aguilas (Southeastern Spain). Geodinamica Acta, 3, 37–51.
Christ, A. J., Rittenour, T. M., Bierman, P. R., Keisling, B. A., Knutz, P. C., Thomsen, T. B., Keulen, N., Fosdick, J. C., Hemming, S. R., Tison, J. L., BlardP. H., Steffensen, J. P., Caffee, M. W., Corbett, L. B., Dahl-Jensen, D., Dethier, D. P, Hidy, A. J., Perdrial, N., Peteet, D. M., Steig, E. J. & Thomas, E. K. (2023). Deglaciation of northwestern Greenland during Marine Isotope Stage 11. Science, 381, 350-335.
Creveling, J. R., Mitrovica, J. X., Clark, P. U., Waelbroeck, C. & Pico, T. (2017). Predicted bounds on peak global mean sea level during marine isotope stages 5a and 5c. Quaternary Science Reviews, 163, 193-208.
Cuerda, J. (1989). Los tiempos cuaternarios de las Baleares. Conselleria de Cultura, Educacio i Esports Govern Balear. Dabrio, C. J. & Polo, M. D. (2015). Cambios del nivel del mar. Enseñanza de las Ciencias de la Tierra, 23(2), 171-179.
Dabrio, C. J., Goy, J. L. & Zazo, C. (1985). A model of conglomeratic beaches in tectonically active areas (Late Pleistocene-actual Almeria, Spain). Proceedings 6th European Regional Meeting, I.A.S. International Association of Sedimentologists, 104-107.
Dabrio, C. J., Zazo C., Cabero, A., Goy, J. L., Bardají, T., Hillaire-Marcel, C., González-Delgado J.A., Lario, J. Silva, P. G., Borja, F. & García-Blázquez A. M. (2011). Millennial/submillennial-scale sea level fluctuations in western Mediterranean during the second highstand of MIS-5e. Quaternary Sciences Reviews, 30, 335-346.
De Gelder, G., Jara-Muñoz, J., Melnick, D., Fernández-Blanco, D., Rouby, H., Pedoja, K., Husson, L., Armijo, R. & Lacassin, R. (2020). How do sea-level curves influence modeled marine terrace sequences?. Quaternary Science Reviews, 229, 106132.
De Giorgo, V., Sabato, L. & Tropeano, M. (2023). Gravelly beach deposits as a proxy for relative sea-level changes in microtidal wave-dominated shoreline systems: examples from the hinterland of the Taranto gulf (middle Pleistocene, Basilicata, southern Italy). Water ,15, 3631.
Dendy, S., Austermann, J., Creveling, J. R. & Mitrovica, J. R. (2017). Sensitivity of Last Interglacial sea-level high stands to ice sheet configuration during Marine Isotope Stage 6. Quaternary Science Reviews, 171, 234-244.
Dorale, J. A., Onac, B. P., Fornós, J. J., Ginés, J., Ginés, A., Tuccimei, P. & Peate, D. W. (2010). Sea level highstand 81.000 years ago in Mallorca. Science, 327, 860-863.
Dumas, B., Guérèmy, P. & Raffy, J. (2005). Evidence for sea-level oscillations by the «characteristic thickness» of marine deposits from raised terraces of Southern Calabria (Italy). Quaternary Science Reviews, 24, 2120–2136.
Dutton, A., Bard, E., Antonioli, F., Esat, T. M., Lambeck, K. & McCulloch, M. T. (2009). Phasing and amplitude of sea-level and climate change during the penultimate interglacial. Nature Geoscience, 2, 355-359.
Dutton,A., Carlson, A. E., Long, A. J., Milne, G. A., Clark, P. U., DeConto, R., Horton, B. P., Rahmstorf, S. & Raymo, M. E. (2015a). Sea-level rise due to polar ice-sheet mass loss during past warm periods. Science, 349, aaa4019.
Dutton, A., Webster, J. M., Zwartz, D., Lambeck, K. & Wohlfarth, B. (2015b). Tropical tales of polar ice: evidence of Last Interglacial polar ice sheet retreat recorded by fossil reefs of the granitic Seychelles islands. Quaternary Science Reviews, 107, 182-196.
Elderfield, H., Greaves, M., Barker, S., Hall, I.R., Tripati, A., Ferretti, P., Crowhurst, S., Booth, L. & Daunt, C. (2010). A record of bottom water temperature and seawater δ18O for the Southern Ocean over the past 440 kyr based on Mg/Ca of benthic foraminiferal Uvigerina spp. Quaternary Science Reviews, 29(1–2), 160–169.
Elderfield, H., Ferretti, P., Greaves, M., Crowhurst, S., McCave, N., Hodell, D. & Piotrowski, A. (2012). Evolution of ocean temperature and ice volume through the Mid-Pleistocene climate transition. Science, 10, 704–709.
Emiliani, C. (1955). Pleistocene Glacial and Interglacial Ages from Foraminifera and Carbonate Cycles. Journal of Geology, 63(4), 538-554.
Evelpidou, N. & Pirazzoli, P. A. (2015). Sea Level indicators. In C. W. Finkl & C. Makowski (Eds.), Environmental Management and Governance: Advances in Coastal and Marine Resources (pp. 291-311), Springer.
Fairbanks, R. G. (1989). A 17,000-year glacio-eustatic sea level record: influence of glacial melting rates on the Younger Dryas event and deep-ocean circulation. Nature, 342, 637–642.
Fairbridge, R. W. (1961). Eustatic Changes in Sea Level. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, 4, 99-185.
Ferranti, L., Antonioli, F., Mauz, B., Amorosi, A., Dai Para, G., Mastronuzzi, G., Monaco, C., Pappalardo, M., Radtke, U., Renda, P., Romano, P., Sansó, P. & Verrubbi, V. (2006). Markers of the Last Interglacial Sea level highstand along the coast of Italy: tectonic implications. Quaternary International, 145–146, 30–54.
Figueiredo, P. M., Cabral, J. & Rockwell, T. K. (2013). Recognition of Pleistocene marine terraces in the Southwest of Portugal (Iberian Peninsula): evidences of regional Quaternary uplift. Annals of Geophysics, 56(6), S0672.
Figueiredo, P.M., Rockwell, T.K., Cabral, J. & Ponte, L.C. (2019). Morphotectonics in a low tectonic rate area: Analysis of the southern Portuguese Atlantic coastal region. Geomorphology, 326, 132-151.
Galve, J. P., Pérez-Peña, J. V., Azañón, J. M., Insua Pereira, D. M., Cunha, P. P., Ortuño, M., Viaplana-Muzas, M., Gracia Prieto, F. J., Remondo, J., Bardají, T., Silva, P. G., Lario, J., Zazo, C., Goy, J. L., Dabrio, C. J. & Cabero, A. (2020). Active landscapes of Iberia. In In C. Quesada & J. T. Oliveira (Eds.), The Geology of Iberia: A Geodynamic Approach (pp. 77–124). Springer.
Ginés, J., Ginés, A., Fornós, J. F., Tuccimei, P., Onac, B. O., & Gràcia, F. (2012). Phreatic Overgrowths on Speleothems (POS) from Mallorca, Spain: Updating forty years of research. In A. Ginés, J. Ginés, L. Gómez-Pujol, B. P. Onac & J. J. Fornós (Eds). Mallorca: a Mediterranean Benchmark for Quaternary Studies (pp. 111-146). Societat d’Història Natural de les Balears.
Goy, J. L., Zazo, C., Hillaire-Marcel, Cl. & Causse, Ch. (1986). Stratigraphie et chronologie (U/Th) del Tyrrhénien de SE de L’Espagne. Zeitschrift für Geomorphologie, 62, 71–82.
Goy, J. L., Zazo, C., Bardají, T., Somoza, L., Causse, Ch. & Hillaire-Marcel, C.I. (1993). Eléments d’une chronostratigraphie du Tyrrhénien des régions d’Alicante-Murcie, Sud-Est de l’Espagne. Geodinamica Acta, 6, 103–119.
Goy, J. L., Zazo, C., Elez, J., Martínez-Graña, A. Cañaveras, J. C., Dabrio, C. J., Duarte, E., De Bustamante, I. & Sánchez Moral, S. (2023). Geomorphological evolution and mapping of the littoral of Asturias and Cantabria (Northern Spain) in the Area of El Pindal cave: relations between coastline and karstic morphologies. Journal of Maps, 19(1), 2196447.
Goy, J. L, Roquero, E., Zazo, C., Moura, D., Dabrio, C. J., Boski, T., Martínez-Graña, A. M., Lario, J. & Bardají, T. (2024). Paleolandscape evolution along the coasts of the Baixo Alentejo (Portugal) during the Quaternary. Quaternary International, 706, 60-75.
Hearty P. J., Hollin, J. T., Neumann, A. C., O’Leary, M. J. & McCulloch, M. (2007). Global sea-level fluctuations during the Last Interglaciation (MIS-5e). Quaternary Science Reviews, 26, 2090-2112.
Hillaire-Marcel, Cl, Carro, O., Causse, Ch., Goy, J. L. & Zazo, C. (1986). Th/U dating of Strombus bubonius-bearing marine terraces in southeastern Spain. Geology, 14, 613–616.
Hillaire-Marcel, Cl, Gariépy, Cl, Ghaleb, B., Goy, J. L., Zazo, C. & Cuerda, J. (1996). U-series measurements in Tyrrhenian deposits from Mallorca. Further evidence for two Last Interglacial high sea-levels in the Balearic Islands. Quaternary Science Reviews, 15, 53–62.
Hu, H. M., Marino, G., Pérez-Mejías, C., Spötl, C., Yokoyama, Y., Yu, J., Rohling, E., Kano, A., Ludwig, P., Pinto, J. G., Michel, V., Valensi, P., Zhang, X., Jiang, X., Mii, H. S., Chien, W. Y., Tsai, H. C., Sung, W. H., Hsu, C. H., Starnini, E., Zunino, M. & Shen, C. C. (2024). Sustained North Atlantic warming drove anomalously intense MIS-11c interglacial. Nature Communications, 15, 5933.
Jedoui, E., Davaud, H., Ismaïl, B. & Reyss, J. L. (2003a). Analyse sédimentologique des dépôts marins pléistocènes du Sud-Est tunisien: mise en évidence de deux périodes de haut niveau marin pendant le sous-stade isotopique marin 5e (Eémien, Tyrrhénien). Bulletin Société Géologique du France, 173, 63–72.
Jedoui, Y., Reyss, J. L., Kallel, N., Montacer, M., Ismaïl, H. B. & Davaud, E. (2003b). U-series evidence for two Last Interglacial sea levels in southern Tunisia. Quaternary Science Reviews, 22, 343–351.
Kelsey, H. M. (2015). Geomorphological indicators of past sea levels. In I. Shennan, A. J. Long & B. P. Horton (Eds). Handbook of Sea-Level Research (pp. 66-82). Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Kopp, R. E., Simons, F. J., Mitrovica, J. X., Maloof, A. C. & Oppenheimer, M. (2009). Probabilistic assessment of sea level during the last interglacial stage. Nature, 462, 863-867.
Laborel, J. & Laborel-Deguen, F. (1994). Biological indicators of relative sea-level variation and of co-seismic displacements in the Mediterranean area. Journal of Coastal Research, 10(2), 395-415.
Lajoie, K.R. (1986). Coastal tectonics. In N. A., Press, (Ed.), Active Tectonics (pp. 95–124). National Academic Press
Lario, J. (1996). Último y Presente Interglacial en el área de conexión Atlántico-Mediterráneo: variaciones del nivel del mar, paleoclima y paleoambientes [Doctoral dissertation]. UCM. http://hdl.handle.net/10261/250268
Lisiecki, L. & Raymo, M. (2005). A Pliocene – Pleistocene stack of 57 globally distributed benthic d18O records. Paleoceanography, 20, 17.
Loutre, M. F. & Berger, A. (2003). Marine Isotope Stage 11 as an analogue for the present interglacial. Global and Planetary Change, 36, 209–217.
Mahmoudi, M., Purser, B. H & Plaziat, J. C. (1987). Quaternary shallow marine carbonates in the eastern coast of Tunisia. Excursion Guide Book IAS 8th Regional Meeting of Sedimentology, Tunis, Tunisia, 129–172.
Mauz, B. (1999). Late Pleistocene records of littoral processes at the Tyrrhenian coast (Central Italy): depositional environments and luminescence chronology. Quaternary Science Reviews, 18, 1173–1184.
Montenat, C., Ott D’Estevou, P. & Masse, P. (1987). Tectonic-sedimentary characters of the Betic Neogene basins evolving in a crustal transcurrent shear zone (SE Spain). Bulletin du Centre de Recherche Exploration-Production Elf-Aquitanie, 11, 1-22.
Moura, D., Oliveira, S., Horta, J., Gomes, A. & Nascimento, A. (2017). Último interglacial: terraços na costa rochosa do Algarve central sector. Abstracts IX Reunión de Cuaternario Ibérico, Faro (Portugal), 90–91.
Murray-Wallace, C. V. (2007). Eustatic Sea-Level Changes Since the last Glaciation. In S. A. Elias (Ed.) Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science (pp. 3024-3034). Elsevier.
Murray-Wallace, C. & Woodroffe, C. (2014). Quaternary sea Level: A Global Perspective. Cambridge University Press.
Otto-Bliesner, B. L., Rosenbloom, N., Stone, E. J., McKay, N. P., Lunt, D. J., Brady, E. C. & Overpeck, J. (2018). How warm was the last interglacial? New model–data comparisons. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, A371, 20130097.
Paskoff, R. & Sanlaville, P. (1980). Le Tyrrhénien de la Tunisie: essai de stratigraphie. Compte Rendu Académie Science Paris, 290, 393–396.
Railsback, L. B., Gibbard, P. L., Head, M. J., Voarintsoa, N. R. G. & Toucanne, S. (2015). An optimized scheme of lettered marine isotope substages for the last 1.0 million years, and the climatostratigraphic nature of isotope stages and substages. Quaternary Science Reviews, 111, 94-106.
Raymo, M. E., Kozdon, R., Evans, D., Lisiecki, L. & Ford, H. L. (2018). The accuracy of mid-Pliocene δ18O-based ice volume and sea level. Earth Science Reviews, 177, 291-302.
Rohling, E. J., Braun, K., Grant, K., Kucera, M., Roberts, A. P., Siddall, M. & Trommer, G. (2010). Comparison between Holocene and Marine Isotope Stage-11 sea-level histories. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 291, 97-105.
Rohling, E. J., Foster, G. L., Grant, K. M., Marino, G., Roberts, A. P., Tamisiea, M. E. & Williams, F. (2014) Sea-level and deep-sea-temperature variability over the past 5.3 million years. Nature, 508, 477-482.
Rovere, A., Raymo, M. E., Vacchi, M., Lorscheid, T., Stocchi, P., Gómez-Pujol, L., Harris, D. L., Casella, E., O’Leary, M. J. & Hearty, P. J. (2016): The analysis of Last Interglacial (MIS-5e) relative sea-level indicators: Reconstructing sea-level in a warmer world. Earth Science Reviews, 159, 404–427.
Rovere, A., Pappalardo, M. & O´Leary, M. J. (2023). Geomorphological indicators. In S. A. Elias & C.J. Mock (Eds.) Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science (Third edition) vol. 6, (pp. 140-151).
Sanz de Galdeano, C., Azañón, J. M., Cabral., J. & Ruano, P. (2020). Active faults of Iberia: Introduction. In C. Quesada & J. T. Oliveira (Eds.), The Geology of Iberia: A Geodynamic Approach (pp. 34–35). Springer.
Shackleton, N. J. (1969). The Last Interglacial in the marine and terrestrial records. Proceedings of the Royal Society, London, B174, 135-154.
Shackleton, N. J. (2000). The 100,000-year ice-Age cycle identified and found to lag temperature, carbon dioxide, and orbital eccentricity. Science, 289 (5486), 1897-1902.
Shackleton, N. J. & Opdyke, N. D. (1973). Oxygen Isotope and Palaeomagnetic Stratigraphy of Equatorial Pacific Core V28-238: Oxygen isotope temperatures volumes on a 105 year and 106 year scale. Quaternary Research, 3, 39-55.
Silva, P.G., Goy, J. L., Somoza, L., Zazo, C. & Bardají, T. (1993). Landscape response to strike-slip faulting linked to collisional settings: Quaternary tectonics and basin formation in the eastern Betics, southeast Spain. Tectonophysics, 224, 289–303.
Silva, P. G., Goy, J. L., Zazo, C., Giménez J., Fornós, J., Cabero, A., Bardají, T., Mateos, R., González Hernández, F. M., Hillaire-Marcel, Cl. & Bassam, G. (2005). Mallorca Island: Geomorphological Evolution and Neotectonics. Sixth International Conference on Geomorphology, Field Trip Guides 2, 433-472.
Spratt, R. M. & Lisiecki, L. E. (2016). A Late Pleistocene sea level stack. Climate of the Past, 12, 1079-1092.
Stearns, Ch. & Thurber, D. (1965). 230Th/234U dates of late Pleistocene marine fossils from the Mediterranean and Moroccan littorals. Quaternaria, 7, 29–41.
Tuccimei, P., Soligo, M., Fornós, J. J., Ginés, A., Ginés, J., Onac, B. P. & Villa, I. M. (2009). Precipitation of phreatic overgrowths at the water table of meteoric-marine mixing zones in coastal cave systems: a useful tool in sea level change reconstruction. Proceedings 15th International Congress on Speleology, 1, 554-560.
Vesica, P. L., Tuccimei, P., Turi, B., Fornós, J. J., Ginés, A. & Ginés, J. (2000). Late Pleistocene paleoclimates and sea-level changes in the Mediterranean as inferred from stable isotope and U-series studies of overgrowths on speleothems, Mallorca, Spain. Quaternary Science Reviews, 19, 865-879.
Waelbroeck, C., Labeyrie, L., Michel, E., Duplessy, J. C., McManus, J. F., Lambeck, K., Balbon, E. & Labracherie, M. (2002). Sea-level and deep-water temperature changes derived from benthic foraminifera isotopic records. Quaternary Science Reviews, 21, 295-305.
Wilcox, P. S., Honiat, C., Trüssel, M., Edwards, R. L. & Spötl, C. (2020). Exceptional warmth and climate instability occurred in the European Alps during the Last Interglacial period. Communications Earth & Environment, 1, 57.
WoRMS (2024). World Register of Marine Species. https://www.marinespecies.org/; acceso [24 de noviembre de 2024].
Zazo, C., Goy, J. L., Dabrio, C. J., Bardají, T., Somoza, L. & Silva, P.G. (1993) The Last Interglacial as a model for the present Interglacial. Global Planetary Change, 7, 109–117.
Zazo, C., Silva, P. G., Goy, J. L., Hillaire-Marcel, Cl., Ghaleb, B., Lario, J., Bardají, T. & González, A. (1999). Coastal uplift in continental collision plate boundaries: data from the Last Interglacial marine terraces of the Gibraltar Strait area (south Spain). Tectonophysics, 301, 95-109.
Zazo, C.; Goy, J. L., Dabrio, C. J., Bardají, T., Hillaire-Marce, Cl., Ghaleb, B., González-Delgado, A. & Soler, V. (2003). Pleistocene raised marine terraces of the Spanish Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts: records of coastal uplift, sea-level highstands and climate changes. Marine Geology, 194, 103-133.
Zazo, C.; Goy, J. L., Dabrio, C. J., Lario, J., González-Delgado, J. A., Bardají, T., Hillaire-Marcel, Cl., Ghaleb, B., Borja, F., Silva P.G., Roquero & E., Soler, V. (2013). Retracing the Quaternary history of sea-level changes in the Spanish Mediterranean–Atlantic coasts: Geomorphological and sedimentological approach. Geomorphology, 196, 36-49.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
© CSIC. Manuscripts published in both the print and online versions of this journal are the property of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, and quoting this source is a requirement for any partial or full reproduction.
All contents of this electronic edition, except where otherwise noted, are distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. You may read the basic information and the legal text of the licence. The indication of the CC BY 4.0 licence must be expressly stated in this way when necessary.
Self-archiving in repositories, personal webpages or similar, of any version other than the final version of the work produced by the publisher, is not allowed.
