Ancient Sea Levels in South Africa May Offer Modern Analogues
https://eos.org/research-spotlights/ancient-sea-levels-in-south-africa-may-offer-modern-analogues
Source: By Aaron Sidder, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: The concentration of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere as of June 2020 exceeds 416 parts per million, a level not seen since the mid-Pliocene warm period approximately 3 million years ago. Indeed, the entire Pliocene (5.33–2.58 million years ago) serves as a potential analogue for our present and future climate. ...Geological proxies like fossilized flora and fauna indicate that temperatures during the Pliocene were about 3°F–5°F (2.7°C–4.0°C) hotter than those in the preindustrial era. Coastal rocks and sediments can also help identify the Pliocene’s elevated sea levels from a time when polar ice extents were drastically smaller than today. ...Three of the 17 surveyed sites provided reliable age data, establishing that average sea levels during the Pliocene were between 15 and 30 meters higher than the present waterline....
Source: By Aaron Sidder, Eos/AGU. Excerpt: The concentration of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere as of June 2020 exceeds 416 parts per million, a level not seen since the mid-Pliocene warm period approximately 3 million years ago. Indeed, the entire Pliocene (5.33–2.58 million years ago) serves as a potential analogue for our present and future climate. ...Geological proxies like fossilized flora and fauna indicate that temperatures during the Pliocene were about 3°F–5°F (2.7°C–4.0°C) hotter than those in the preindustrial era. Coastal rocks and sediments can also help identify the Pliocene’s elevated sea levels from a time when polar ice extents were drastically smaller than today. ...Three of the 17 surveyed sites provided reliable age data, establishing that average sea levels during the Pliocene were between 15 and 30 meters higher than the present waterline....