DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH RESOLUTION SEA-LEVEL RECORDS FOR THE SOUTH ATLANTIC OCEAN

The necessity for high resolution sea-level reconstructions has increased with the realization that the rate of sea-level rise is accelerating. Presently, uncertainty concerning the input and influence of glaciers and ice sheets causes these changes and future projections in sea-level to be highly debatable. In order to create more precise future projections regarding sea level, it is vital to understand the spatial and temporal characteristics of past sea-level changes and their driving mechanisms. Therefore, precise paleo sea-level records are a necessary geologic benchmark by which to gauge future change. Due, in part, to isostatic deformation and gravitational and rotational changes driven by the exchange of mass between oceans and ice sheets, sea-level changes are not globally uniform and hence regional-to-local specific reconstructions are necessary. Such records already exist for the Northern Hemisphere, most abundantly distributed along the landmasses bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, but are distinctly lacking or at inadequate resolution in the Southern Hemisphere, in particular along the South Atlantic Ocean. Here we use the relationship between modern foraminifera and the tidal regime to predict the elevation of fossil foraminifera from cores at three sites in Argentina. Latitudinal spacing of sites may help to explore the spatial and temporal pattern of ice-equivalent meltwater contributions to sea level due to the melting of terrestrial-based ice from the Greenland and West Antarctica Ice Sheets.