File:Phanerozoic Sea Level.svg is a vector version of this file. It should be used in place of this PNG file when not inferior. File:Phanerozoic Sea Level.png → File:Phanerozoic Sea Level.svg For more information, see Help:SVG. In other languages Alemannisch ∙ Bahasa Indonesia ∙ Bahasa Melayu ∙ British English ∙ català ∙ čeština ∙ dansk ∙ Deutsch ∙ eesti ∙ English ∙ español ∙ Esperanto ∙ euskara ∙ français ∙ Frysk ∙ galego ∙ hrvatski ∙ Ido ∙ italiano ∙ lietuvių ∙ magyar ∙ Nederlands ∙ norsk bokmål ∙ norsk nynorsk ∙ occitan ∙ Plattdüütsch ∙ polski ∙ português ∙ português do Brasil ∙ română ∙ Scots ∙ sicilianu ∙ slovenčina ∙ slovenščina ∙ suomi ∙ svenska ∙ Tiếng Việt ∙ Türkçe ∙ vèneto ∙ Ελληνικά ∙ беларуская (тарашкевіца) ∙ български ∙ македонски ∙ нохчийн ∙ русский ∙ српски / srpski ∙ татарча/tatarça ∙ українська ∙ ქართული ∙ հայերեն ∙ বাংলা ∙ தமிழ் ∙ മലയാളം ∙ ไทย ∙ 한국어 ∙ 日本語 ∙ 简体中文 ∙ 繁體中文 ∙ עברית ∙ العربية ∙ فارسی ∙ +/−

 

Summary

This figure compares the Hallam et al. (1983) and Exxon eustatic (global) sea level reconstructions for the Phanerozoic eon. The Exxon curve [1] is a composite from several reconstructions published by the Exxon corporation (Haq et al. 1987, Ross & Ross 1987, Ross & Ross 1988). Both curves are adjusted to the 2004 ICS geologic timescale.

Hallam et al. and Exxon use very different techniques of measuring global sea level changes. Hallam's approach is qualitative and relies on regional scale observations from exposed geologic sections and estimates of the areas of flooded continental interiors. Exxon's approach relies on the interpretation of seismic profiles to determine the extent of coastal onlap in subsequently buried sedimentary basins. Hallam is insensitive to rapid fluctuations in sea level. Exxon is sensitive to rapid fluctuations but tends to overinterpret local geologic changes resulting in bias towards reporting unphysical rapid fluctuations.

The depth scale is as reported by Exxon. Because Hallam is reported as qualtitative (i.e. uncalibrated), these sea level changes were scaled to match the Exxon record during the period 0–250 Myr.

A black bar is added to indicate the scale of sea level fluctuations during the last glacial/interglacial transition. This change occurred purely within the last 20 kyrs, and note that neither system of measurements is capable of resolving changes on this time scale. It also should be noted that very rapid fluctuations of similar scale are potentially possible during all periods during which large scale ice sheets are present (see: Phanerozoic climate change).

On the scale of this figure, the melting of all existing ice sheets would result in a sea level rise of ~80 meters. Changes on larger scales, which evidently occurred many times in the past, are the result of geologic changes in the structure of ocean basins. Essentially, such changes affect the average depth of the oceans relative to the continents.

Common symbols for geologic periods appear at the bottom.

Copyright

This figure was prepared by Robert A. Rohde from publicly available data and is incorporated into the Global Warming Art project.

Image from Global Warming Art

This image is an original work created for Global Warming Art. Please refer to the image description page for more information.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled GNU Free Documentation License.http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.htmlGFDLGNU Free Documentation Licensetruetrue

	This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
	You are free: to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work to remix – to adapt the work Under the following conditions: attribution – You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. share alike – If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same or compatible license as the original.
	This licensing tag was added to this file as part of the GFDL licensing update.http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/CC BY-SA 3.0Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0truetrue

References

• Hallam, A., Phil. Trans. Royal Soc. B 325, 437-455 (1989).
• Harland, W.B. and many others, A Geologic Time Scale, (1982).
• Haq, B., J. Hardenbol, P. Vail., Science, 235, 1156-1167 (1987).
• Ross, C.A. & J.R.P. Ross, Cushman Foundation for Foraminiferal Research Spec. Publ. 24, 137-149 (1987).
• Ross, C.A. & J.R.P. Ross in Sea-level Change: an Integrated Approach (Eds. Wilgus, C.K., Hastings, B.J., Posamentier, H., van Wagoner, J.C., Ross, C.A., and Kendall, C.G. St. C.), SEPM Spec. Pub. 42:71-108 (1988).

Notes

• Because Exxon traditionally used an in-house (i.e. unpublished) system for estimating the geologic age of stratigraphic sections it is not possible to perform an exact recalibration of the time scale. Instead it was adjusted assuming the Harland et al. 1982 time scale was a reasonable approximation.

derivative works

Derivative works of this file:

• Phanerozoic Sea Level es.svg
• Phanerozoic Sea Level.svg