Last Interglacial sea surface warming during the sea-level highstand in the Canary Islands: Implications for the Canary Current and the upwelling off African coast

Abstract

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Earth-Moon Barycentre Excursions and Anomalous Quaternary Sea Level Highstands

“…The MIS 5e deposits of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria with a Uranium-series age of 120 ky are ones of the highest in world at 12 m ASL, being at least 2 m higher than the tallest ones, and with quiet origin. The arrival of the cold fauna [6] from the north to the Canary Islands is also anomalous, although the isotopic SSTs are higher than the current ones as they correspond to the last interglacial [9].…”

“…In Las Palmas (Figure 7) the maximum transgressive is 12 m ASL [2] and in the north of Lanzarote it is at 9 m ASL. fossil and extant habitats using tele-temperatures with a result of 3.3˚C more than today [30], but the results are of 20.4˚C ± 1.3˚C and 22.2˚C ± 1.3˚C [9] if d 18 O isotopes are analysed. As the present mean temperature on Fuerteventura is 21.23˚C [7], both present tele-temperature and isotopic data fully agree in their highest values.…”

“…Subsequently, attention was focused on the list of other elements of the Quaternary fauna, confirming the mix of cold and warm faunas and dating corals by Uranium-series [6]. Finally, the mean sea surface temperature (SST) was calculated by remote sensing, comparison of extant and fossil habitats [2] [7], analysis of oxygen isotopes [8] [9] and alkenone SST from core ODP 658C [10]. Most of the mentioned publications, which are not exhaustive, have a detailed description of the multiple and comprehensive methodologies used.…”

“…The proto-island of Fuerteventura-Lanzarote, near Africa, is in an area lacking subsidence [12] and partially or totally above the African craton [17]. Geographically, this proto-island is located in the midst of the Canary Current meeting with the African coast upwellings [9]. Finally, the Canary Islands are On the other hand, the Canarian dated lavas help to understand the degree of tectonic stability of these islands (Figure 2(b)) and, as a consequence, the global sea level at the beginning of the Pliocene, and its participation in the largest climatic events.…”