A standardized database of Last interglacial (MIS 5e) sea-level indicators in Southeast Asia

Abstract

Abstract. Marine Isotope Stage 5e (the Last Interglacial, LIG) represents a process analogue for a warmer world expected for the near future. Analysis of LIG relative sea level (RSL) proxies helps in constraining both regional and global drivers of sea-level change. In Southeast Asia, several studies have reported elevation and age information on LIG RSL proxies, such as fossil coral reef terraces or tidal notches, but a standardized database of such data was hitherto missing. In this paper, we produced such sea-level database using the framework of the World Atlas of Last Interglacial Shorelines (WALIS, https://warmcoasts.eu/world-atlas.html). Overall, we screened and reviewed 14 studies on LIG sea-level indicators in Southeast Asia, from which we report 43 unique RSL proxies (42 coral reef terraces and one tidal notch), that were correlated to 134 dated samples. The database compiled in this study (Maxwell et al., 2021) is available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4681325.

A global compilation of U-series-dated fossil coral sea-level indicators for the Last Interglacial period (Marine Isotope Stage 5e)

“…Fossil corals from the coastline of Western Australia represent perhaps the broadest geographic region reported here, spanning more than 1400 km from Cape Range in the north to Foul Bay near the southwestern tip of the Australian continent. It has one of the largest number of U-series ages of any study area covered by WALIS, with 176 U-series ages reported for 156 unique coral specimens (Collins et al, 2003;Eisenhauer et al, 1996;Hearty et al, 2007;O'Leary et al, 2008aO'Leary et al, , b, 2013McCulloch and Mortimer, 2008;Stirling et al, 1995Stirling et al, , 1998. These sites are considered to be tectonically stable, with one notable exception being sites near the Cape Cuvier anticline, for which there is strong evidence of neotectonism since the LIG (Whitney and Hengesh, 2015).…”

“…More recently, the advent of modern mass spectrometric Useries techniques in the mid-1980s reduced analytical uncertainties of LIG fossil coral U-series ages to 1000 years (1 kyr) or less, allowing workers to precisely determine the timing of the LIG and further refine our understanding of the relationship between orbital forcing, solar insolation, and sea-level/climate change (Chen et al, 1986;Edwards et al, 1987a, b;Gallup et al, 1994;Stirling et al, 1995Stirling et al, , 1998). In the last 3 decades, further improvements to existing thermal ionization mass spectrometry methods and the development of robust inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry techniques have continued to push the boundaries of analytical precision, and today many labs routinely generate coral U-series ages with an analytical precision of several hundred years for the LIG (e.g., Cheng et al, 2000;Stirling et al, 2001;Andersen et al, 2008;McCulloch and Mortimer, 2008;Cheng et al, 2013).…”