Ancient sea levels give clues to natural sea rise

Scientists have produced the first detailed record of sea levels over the past 500,000 years and spanning five ice ages, using microfossils from sediments in the Red Sea. The team determined accurate dates for the sea levels by linking wind-blown dust in the sediments to a climate record from stalagmites from caves in China. The more precise dating method gives scientists new insights into natural rates of sea level rise. "When large ice sheets melted at the end of ice ages, sea levels rose dramatically, up to 5.5 metres per century," said lead author Dr Katharine Grant, from the Research School of Earth Sciences. The study provides the first detailed and continuous sea-level record going back further than 150,000 years ago. The new record closely matches existing data derived from corals, and ice-volume approximations from microfossils. Electron microscope image of the type of microfossil used to determine dates.