(1) 



(2) 



-0.5m 



+0.3m 



-0.5m 



+0.6m 



-2m 



+2m 



-lm 



+3m 



-lm 



+4m 



(3) 



20th C. Submergence 

 Pari a Emergence 

 Gotland Emergence 



Rottnest Submergence 

 Florida Emergence 

 Abrolhos Submergence 

 Pel ham Bay Emergence 

 Younger Peron Submergence 

 Bahama Emergence 

 Older Peron Submergence 



(4) 



Modern 



Medieval 



Viking (Dunkerquian III) 



"Dark Ages" 



Carolingian (Dunkerquian II) 



Roman 



Iron Age (Dunkerquian II) 



Bronze Age 



Neolithic (Calaisian II) 



Me sol it hie (Calaisian I) 



(1) Years expressed B.P., "before present" (A.D. 1950) in uncorrected radiocarbon years 

 (6,000 B.P. = approximately 6,900 B.P. sidereal years). 



(2) Temperature, world average departures for mid-latitudes, at peak stage. 



(3) Maximum sea level departure from present M.S.L. (extreme departures probably lasted only a few 

 centuries or less; note that changing tidal characteristics may considerably vary these figures). 



(4) Cultural labels are, for general interest, those of northern Europe, with chronostrat igraphic terms 

 from the Flandrian area. 



Table 11. Mean sea level oscillations during the last 6,000 years (present- 

 ed in stratigraphic order from top to bottom; to perceive the 

 historic sequence, read table from bottom to top) (adapted from 

 Fairbridge 1974). 



Concurrent with sea level fluc- 

 tuations, climatic conditions (i.e. 

 temperature and rainfall) also os- 

 cillated. These latter oscillations 

 in turn exerted rather dramatic 

 effects on surface and ground water 

 tables, salt water intrusion, hydro- 

 periods, and consequently on sedi- 

 mentary environments and rates in 

 southern Florida. Some of the 



record of these fluctuations lies 

 buried beneath the swamps, while the 

 rest is either totally eroded or 

 less conspicuously preserved beneath 

 the continental shelf. 



Early opinions (Davis 1940) 

 that the growth of the southwest 

 Florida shoreline was regressive. 



i.e. sea level was receding, due to 

 sediment accumulation and land 

 building by mangroves, were at least 

 partially founded on an error in the 

 assigning of a marine origin to the 

 basal carbonate sediment (Gleason et 

 al. 1974). From historical accounts 

 of red mangroves growing inland from 

 their present distribution, it was 

 suggested by Davis (1940) that the 

 mangrove forest might be moving sea- 

 ward. Today it is generally agreed 

 that mangroves may well act as sedi- 

 ment traps and shoreline stabi- 

 lizers; however, major shifts in 

 shoreline features are more likely 

 dominated by sea level fluctuations, 

 longshore drifts of sediment, tidal 

 scouring, erosion, and fluctuations 



59 



