Note: Cover -- Half title -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Preface -- Abbreviations -- 1 Sea-level changes: the emergence of a Quaternary perspective -- 1.1 Introduction -- 1.2 The Quaternary Period -- 1.3 Sea-level changes: historical development of ideas -- 1.4 Observations from classical antiquity until the nineteenth century -- 1.4.1 Early Mediterranean studies -- 1.4.2 Eighteenth-century writings on universal changes to the Earth -- 1.4.3 Diluvial Theory - the universal flood -- 1.4.4 The Temple of Serapis: a compelling case for relative sea-level change -- 1.4.5 Lavoisier and the concepts of transgression and regression -- 1.5 Glacial action and recognition of the Ice Ages -- 1.5.1 Louis Agassiz and the Glacial Theory -- 1.5.2 The Croll-Milankovitch Hypothesis -- 1.6 Vertical changes in land and sea level related to Quaternary climate -- 1.6.1 Charles Darwin and James Dana -- 1.6.2 Insights from around the world -- 1.7 Evolution of ideas in the twentieth century -- 1.7.1 Developments in Europe -- 1.7.2 Advances in geochemistry and geochronology -- 1.7.3 Oxygen-isotope records from marine sediments and ice cores -- 1.7.4 Geophysical models of sea-level changes -- 1.7.5 Sequence stratigraphy -- 1.7.6 International concern and a focus on current and future sea-level trends -- 1.8 Theoretical concepts relevant to the study of Quaternary sea-level changes -- 1.9 Synthesis and way forward -- 1.9.1 Revisiting old ideas -- 1.9.2 Quaternary sea-level changes: the status quo -- 2 The causes of Quaternary sea-level changes -- 2.1 Introduction -- 2.2 Sea level and sea-level changes: some definitions -- 2.2.1 Sea level and base level -- 2.2.2 Relative sea-level changes -- 2.3 Processes responsible for relative sea-level changes in the Quaternary -- 2.3.1 Glacio-eustasy -- 2.3.2 Isostasy. , 2.3.3 Glacial isostasy and relative sea-level changes -- 2.3.4 Hydro-isostasy and relative sea-level changes -- 2.3.5 The geoid and changes to its configuration -- 2.3.6 Global variation in geophysical response and equatorial ocean siphoning -- 2.4 Tectonism, volcanism, and other processes resulting in relative sea-level changes -- 2.4.1 Tectonic movements -- 2.4.2 Volcanism and its link to sea-level changes -- 2.4.3 Lithospheric flexure -- 2.4.4 Changes in tidal range -- 2.4.5 Steric changes, meteorological changes, and the role of ENSO events -- 2.5 Geophysical models and the sea-level equation -- 2.6 Synthesis and conclusions -- 3 Palaeo-sea-level indicators -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.1.1 Fixed and relational sea-level indicators -- 3.1.2 Relative sea-level changes, sea-level index points, and indicative meaning -- 3.1.3 Sources of uncertainty in palaeo-sea-level estimation -- 3.1.4 Palaeo-sea-level curve or envelope? -- 3.1.5 Facies architecture, allostratigraphy, and sea-level changes -- 3.2 Pleistocene and Holocene palaeo-sea-level indicators compared -- 3.3 Corals and coral reefs -- 3.3.1 Reefs and Pleistocene sea levels -- 3.3.2 Reefs and Holocene sea levels -- 3.3.3 Conglomerates and recognition of in-situ corals -- 3.3.4 Microatolls -- 3.4 Other biological sea-level indicators -- 3.4.1 Fixed biological indicators -- 3.4.2 Mangroves -- 3.4.3 Salt-marsh sediments and microfossil analysis -- 3.4.4 Seagrass -- 3.4.5 Marine molluscs -- 3.4.6 Submerged forests -- 3.5 Geomorphological and geological sea-level indicators -- 3.5.1 Marine terraces and shore platforms -- 3.5.2 Shoreline notches and visors -- 3.5.3 Isolation basins -- 3.5.4 Beach ridges -- 3.5.5 Cheniers -- 3.5.6 Aeolianites -- 3.5.7 Calcretes -- 3.5.8 Beachrock -- 3.6 Geoarchaeology and sea-level changes -- 3.7 Synthesis and conclusions. , 4 Methods of dating Quaternary sea-level changes -- 4.1 Introduction -- 4.1.1 Terminology -- 4.1.2 Historical approaches used for evaluating geological age of coastal deposits -- 4.2 Radiocarbon dating -- 4.2.1 Underlying principles of the radiocarbon method -- 4.2.2 Age range -- 4.2.3 Measurement techniques -- 4.2.4 Isotopic fractionation -- 4.2.5 Marine reservoir and hard-water effects -- 4.2.6 Secular 14C/12C variation and the calibration of radiocarbon ages to sidereal years -- 4.2.7 Contamination and sample pre-treatment strategies -- 4.2.8 Statistical considerations: comparisons of radiocarbon age and pooling of results -- 4.3 Uranium-series disequilibrium dating -- 4.3.1 Underlying principles of U-series disequilibrium dating -- 4.3.2 U-series dating of marine carbonates -- 4.3.3 U-series dating of other materials -- 4.4 Oxygen-isotope stratigraphy -- 4.5 Luminescence dating methods -- 4.5.1 Quantifying the cumulative effects of environmental radiation dose -- 4.5.2 Age range of luminescence methods -- 4.5.3 Anomalous fading and partial bleaching -- 4.6 Electron spin resonance dating -- 4.7 Amino acid racemisation dating -- 4.7.1 The amino acid racemisation reaction -- 4.7.2 Environmental factors that influence racemisation -- 4.7.3 Sources of uncertainty in AAR dating -- 4.7.4 Application of AAR to dating coastal successions -- 4.8 Cosmogenic dating -- 4.9 Other dating techniques -- 4.9.1 Event markers -- 4.9.2 Palaeomagnetism -- 4.10 Synthesis and conclusions -- 5 Vertical displacement of shorelines -- 5.1 Introduction -- 5.2 Plate tectonics and implications for coastlines globally -- 5.2.1 Lithospheric plate domains -- 5.2.2 Plate margins -- 5.2.3 Plate tectonics and coastal classification -- 5.2.4 Ocean plate dynamics and island types -- 5.3 Styles of tectonic deformation and rates of uplift or subsidence -- 5.3.1 Coseismic uplift. , 5.3.2 Epeirogenic uplift -- 5.3.3 Folding and warping -- 5.3.4 Isostasy -- 5.3.5 Lithospheric flexure -- 5.3.6 Mantle plumes -- 5.3.7 Subsidence and submerged shorelines -- 5.4 The last interglacial shoreline: a reference for quantifying vertical displacement -- 5.4.1 Terrace age and elevation -- 5.4.2 Constraints on using the last interglacial shoreline as a benchmark -- 5.5 Coastlines in tectonically 'stable' cratonic regions -- 5.5.1 Australia -- 5.5.2 Southern Africa -- 5.6 Coastlines of emergence -- 5.6.1 Huon Peninsula -- 5.6.2 Barbados -- 5.6.3 Convergent continental margins: Chile -- 5.7 Vertical crustal movements associated with glacio-isostasy: Scandinavia -- 5.8 The Mediterranean Basin -- 5.8.1 Italy -- 5.8.2 Greece -- 5.9 The Caribbean region -- 5.9.1 Southern Florida and the Bahamas -- 5.9.2 Other Caribbean sites and more tectonically active islands -- 5.10 Divergent spreading-related coastlines: Red Sea -- 5.11 Pacific Plate -- 5.11.1 Pacific islands -- 5.11.2 Hawaii -- 5.11.3 Japan -- 5.11.4 New Zealand -- 5.12 Synthesis and conclusions -- 6 Pleistocene sea-level changes -- 6.1 Introduction -- 6.2 Prelude to the Pleistocene -- 6.3 Pleistocene icesheets -- 6.4 Early Pleistocene sea levels -- 6.4.1 Roe Calcarenite, Roe Plains, southern Australia -- 6.4.2 The Crag Group, southeastern England -- 6.5 The middle Pleistocene Transition -- 6.6 Middle Pleistocene sea-level changes -- 6.7 Sea-level highstands of the middle Pleistocene -- 6.7.1 Marine Isotope Stage 11 -- 6.7.2 Marine Isotope Stage 9 - the pre-penultimate interglacial -- 6.7.3 Marine Isotope Stage 7 - the penultimate interglacial -- 6.8 Middle Pleistocene sea-level lowstands -- 6.9 Late Pleistocene sea-level changes -- 6.9.1 The last interglacial maximum (MIS 5e) -- 6.9.2 Timing and duration of the last interglacial maximum. , 6.9.3 Global estimates of last interglacial sea levels - the sanctity of the 6 m APSL datum? -- 6.10 Interstadial sea levels of the last glacial cycle (MIS 5c and 5a) -- 6.11 Interstadial sea levels during MIS 3 -- 6.12 Late Pleistocene interstadial sea levels: Dansgaard-Oeschger and Heinrich Events -- 6.13 Eustatic sea levels during the Last Glacial Maximum (MIS 2) -- 6.14 Long records of Pleistocene sea-level highstands -- 6.14.1 Coorong Coastal Plain and Murray Basin, southern Australia -- 6.14.2 Wanganui Basin, New Zealand -- 6.14.3 Sumba Island, Indonesia -- 6.15 Synthesis and conclusions -- 7 Sea-level changes since the Last Glacial Maximum -- 7.1 Introduction -- 7.2 Deglacial sea-level records of marine transgression -- 7.3 Holocene relative sea-level changes in the far-field: Australia -- 7.3.1 Queensland -- 7.3.2 Southeastern Australia -- 7.3.3 Other parts of the Australian coast -- 7.4 Holocene sea level across the Pacific Ocean -- 7.4.1 High islands -- 7.4.2 Atolls -- 7.5 Other far-field locations -- 7.5.1 Holocene sea level in the Indian Ocean -- 7.5.2 Southeast Asia -- 7.6 Holocene relative sea-level changes: the intermediate-field -- 7.7 Holocene relative sea-level changes and glacio-isostasy: the British Isles -- 7.7.1 Northern Britain -- 7.7.2 Southern Britain -- 7.8 Europe -- 7.9 The Americas -- 7.10 The past two millennia -- 7.11 Unresolved issues in the postglacial record of sea level -- 7.11.1 The elusive eustatic sea-level record -- 7.11.2 The question of sea-level oscillations -- 7.12 Synthesis and conclusions -- 8 Current and future sea-level changes -- 8.1 Introduction -- 8.2 Historical sea-level change -- 8.3 Linking geological proxies with historical observations -- 8.4 Satellite altimetry and sea level over recent decades -- 8.5 Sea-level enigma: volume, mass, and sea-level fingerprinting. , 8.5.1 Thermal expansion - changing volume.