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Quaternary Sea-Level Changes

Quaternary Sea-Level Changes

Quaternary Sea-Level Changes

A Global Perspective
Colin V. Murray-Wallace, University of Wollongong, New South Wales
Colin D. Woodroffe, University of Wollongong, New South Wales
January 2014
Available
Hardback
9780521820837

    There have been significant changes in sea level over the past two million years, and a complete understanding of natural cycles of change as well as anthropogenic effects is imperative for future global development. This book reviews the history of research into these sea-level changes and summarises the methods and analytical approaches used to interpret evidence for sea-level changes. It provides an overview of changing climates during the Quaternary, examines processes responsible for global variability of sea-level records, and presents detailed reviews of sea-level changes for the Pleistocene and Holocene. The book concludes by discussing current trends in sea levels and likely future sea-level changes. This is an important and authoritative resource for academic researchers and graduate and advanced undergraduate students working in tectonics, stratigraphy, geomorphology, physical geography, environmental science and other aspects of Quaternary studies.

    • Discusses all changes in sea level in the past two million years, providing context for researchers and coastal managers to predict future sea-level changes
    • Presents the diverse methodological approaches to reconstructing sea-level changes, enabling researchers to compare different types of evidence
    • Explains why sea-level records at the local scale differ from the global scale, combining causes of sea-level changes with specifics from key global sites

    Reviews & endorsements

    'Both Murray-Wallace and Woodroffe have made distinguished contributions to the field, and they explain clearly and with excellent figures why Quaternary sea-level changes are complex and far-reaching now that advances in technology have enabled greater insight. They carefully examine what constitutes evidence - actuality and inferences drawn - used by different approaches. They champion geographical variability over what might be called 'the tyranny of the average' in global models … this book should be essential for everyone curious about Earth systems. Students, undergraduates and postgraduates, their instructors and mentors, will find it endlessly fascinating and informative.' Quaternary Science Reviews

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    Product details

    January 2014
    Hardback
    9780521820837
    504 pages
    253 × 180 × 27 mm
    1.14kg
    132 b/w illus.
    Available

    Table of Contents

    • Preface
    • Acknowledgements
    • List of abbreviations
    • 1. Sea-level changes: the emergence of a Quaternary perspective
    • 2. The causes of Quaternary sea-level changes
    • 3. Palaeo sea-level indicators
    • 4. Methods of dating Quaternary sea-level changes
    • 5. Vertical displacement of shorelines
    • 6. Pleistocene sea-level changes
    • 7. Sea-level changes since the Last Glacial Maximum
    • 8. Current and future sea-level changes
    • References
    • Index.
      Authors
    • Colin V. Murray-Wallace , University of Wollongong, New South Wales

      Colin V. Murray-Wallace is a Quaternary geologist and currently a Professor and Head of the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences in the University of Wollongong. His long-standing research interests have centred on Quaternary sea-level changes, neotectonics, carbonate depositional systems and amino acid racemization dating, and he has undertaken coastal field investigations in southern Australia, Vietnam, Hawaii and South Africa. Professor Murray-Wallace was project leader of IGCP (International Geological Correlation Program) project 437 (1999–2003) 'Coastal environmental change during sea-level highstands', and leader of the INQUA (International Union for Quaternary Research) Coastal and Marine Commission (2004–7). He has served as Editor-in-Chief of the journal Quaternary Science Reviews since 2008.

    • Colin D. Woodroffe , University of Wollongong, New South Wales

      Colin D. Woodroffe is a coastal geomorphologist in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Wollongong. He has studied the stratigraphy and development of coasts in Australia and New Zealand, as well as on islands in the West Indies and Indian and Pacific Oceans. He has written and co-authored three coastal studies books. Professor Woodroffe was national representative on the INQUA Quaternary Shorelines subcommission, and served on the committees of both the IGCP project 274 'Coastal Evolution in the Quaternary' and its follow-up project, and on the Scientific Steering Committee of the LOICZ (Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone) project within IGBP. He was a lead author on the coastal chapter in the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth Assessment Report. In 2012 he was awarded the R. J. Russell Award from the Coast and Marine Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers.