Reply to the comments by Mauz, B. and Antonioli, F. on “Sea Level and Climate Changes during OIS 5e in the Western Mediterranean”

Last Interglacial sea-level proxies in the western Mediterranean

“…The color of each cell represents the number of sites for each category. Muhs et al, 2015), several other sites rely on chronological constraints given by AAR (e.g., , U series on mollusk shells (e.g., Hillaire-Marcel et al, 1996), ESR (e.g., Brückner, 1986) and biostratigraphy (e.g., Bardají et al, 2015). Along the Mediterranean and Strait of Gibraltar coasts of Spain, the Last Interglacial sea-level indicators are concentrated in five regions: Andalusia, Murcia, the Valencian Community (Alicante province), Catalonia, and the Balearic Islands (Mallorca).…”

“…10), where marine conglomerates outcrop up to 5.2 m a.s.l. Bardají et al (2015) describe the lowermost sedimentological units in 11 outcrops along the Cope Basin (RSL IDs 740-750, nos. 1 to 11 in Fig.…”

“…The authors do not rule out a possible MIS 5a or 5e age for this unit, as its age attribution is based solely on the presence of P. latus and other warm-water faunas. For this reason, in WALIS we reported the 11 sites described by Bardají et al (2015), where (Farr et al, 2007, NASA dataset). Lower panel: distance/elevation graph from west (left) to east (right).…”

Evidence of MIS 5 sea-level highstands in Gebel Mousa coast (Strait of Gibraltar, North of Africa)

“…In any case, we consider that the ages given by the U-series dating are coherent and within the limits to attribute the MIS 5 stage to the studied deposits. However, it is acknowledged that the reliability and methodological problems arising from the use of U-series dating should be considered when applying this approach to dating coastal deposits (Bardají et al, 2009b;Mauz and Antonioli, 2009).…”