Uplift rates defined by U-series and 14 C ages of serpulid-encrusted speleothems from submerged caves near Siracusa, Sicily (Italy)

Date

2009

Authors

Dutton, Andrea
Scicchitano, Giovanni
Monaco, Carmelo
Desmarchelier, Jolyon
Antonioli, Fabrizio
Esat, Tezer
Fifield, L Keith
McCulloch, Malcolm
Mortimer, Graham
Lambeck, Kurt

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Elsevier

Abstract

We have established a plausible rate of uplift near Siracusa in southeastern Sicily (Italy) over the last glacial-interglacial cycle using U-series ages of submerged speleothem calcite and 14C ages of calcite serpulid layers that encrust the speleothems during cave submergence. The precisely determined ages of these sea level benchmarks were compared with expected relative sea level position based on glacio-hydro-isostatic modeling to assess the rate of uplift in this region. When combined with the age of various late Holocene archaeological sites that have been recently described and characterized in terms of their functional position relative to sea level these data collectively define a rate of uplift ≤0.4 mm a-1 along this portion of the Sicilian coastline. These results are consistent with an age assignment of marine isotope stage (MIS) 5.3 or 5.5 for the Akradina terrace, which in turn places temporal constraints on paleoshorelines above and below this level.

Description

Keywords

Keywords: calcite; carbon isotope; cave; encrustation; glacial-interglacial cycle; Holocene; modeling; sea level; speleothem; submergence; uplift; uranium series dating; Eurasia; Europe; Italy; Sicily; Siracusa; Southern Europe; Serpulidae 14C dating; Mediterranean; Sea level; Sicily; Speleothem; U-Th dating; Uplift

Citation

Source

Quaternary Geochronology

Type

Journal article

Book Title

Entity type

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2037-12-31