Geologic evidence of rapid sea level change and superstorms portend ominous prospects for a warming earth – “Our global society is producing a climate system that is racing forward out of humanity’s control”

Desdemona Despair

Philadelphia, PA, 12 October 2017 (Elsevier) – While strong seasonal hurricanes have devastated many of the Caribbean and Bahamian islands this year, geologic studies on several of these islands illustrate that more extreme conditions existed in the past. A new analysis published in Marine Geology shows that the limestone islands of the Bahamas and Bermuda experienced climate changes that were even more extreme than historical events. In the interest of our future world, scientists must seek to understand the complexities of linked natural events and field observations that are revealed in the geologic record of past warmer climates.

In Bermuda and the Bahamas, the geology of the last interglacial (LIG; approximately 120,000 years ago) is exquisitely preserved in nearly pure carbonate sedimentary rocks. A record of superstorms and changing sea levels is exposed in subtidal, beach, storm, and dune deposits on multiple islands. Extensive studies by the authors over the past decades on these islands have documented stratigraphic, sedimentologic, and geomorphic evidence of major oceanic and climatic disruptions at the close of the last interglacial.

Dr. Paul J. Hearty, a retired Associate Professor at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, and Dr. Blair. R. Tormey, a Coastal Research Scientist at Western Carolina University conducted an invited review of published findings. It demonstrates that during a global climate transition in the late last interglacial, also known as marine isotope substage 5e (MIS 5e), abrupt multi-meter sea-level changes occurred. Concurrently, coastlines of the Bahamas and Bermuda were impacted by massive storms generated in the North Atlantic Ocean, resulting in a unique trilogy of wave-transported deposits: megaboulders, chevron-shaped, storm-beach ridges, and runup deposits on high dune ridges.

While perhaps more mundane than the megaboulders (found only locally on Eleuthera), the sedimentological structures found within chevron ridge and runup deposits across islands throughout the Bahamas and Bermuda point to frequent and repeated inundation by powerful storm waves, in some locations leaving storm deposits tens of meters above sea level.

During the last interglacial, sea levels were about 3-9 meters higher than they are now. The geologic evidence indicates that the higher sea-levels were accompanied by intense “superstorms,” which deposited giant wave-transported boulders at the top of cliffed coastlines, formed chevron-shaped, storm beach ridges in lowland areas, and left wave runup deposits on older dunes more than 30 meters above sea level. These events occurred at a time of only slightly warmer global climate and CO₂ (about 275 ppm) was much lower than today.

The authors emphasize “the LIG record reveals that strong climate forcing is not required to yield major impacts on the ocean and ice caps.” In our industrial world, rapidly increasing atmospheric CO₂ has surpassed 400 ppm, levels not achieved since the Pliocene era about 3 million years ago, while global temperature has increased nearly 1°C since the 1870s. Today, ice sheets are melting, sea level is rising, oceans are warming, and weather events are becoming more extreme.

Drs. Hearty and Tormey conclude that with the greatly increased anthropogenic CO₂ forcing at rates unmatched in nature, except perhaps during global extinction events, dramatic change is certain. They caution that, “Our global society is producing a climate system that is racing forward out of humanity’s control into an uncertain future. If we seek to understand the non-anthropogenic events of the last interglaciation, some of the consequences of our unchecked forward speed may come more clearly into focus … a message from the past; a glimpse into the future.”

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Kristian Wilson
Elsevier
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Geologic evidence is the forerunner of ominous prospects for a warming earth

ABSTRACT: Geological observations from last interglacial (LIG; MIS 5e, Eemian) carbonate landscapes in the Bahamas and Bermuda reveal a turbulent climate transition at the close of the peak interglacial. The interval is associated with rapid, multi-meter shifts in sea level as major ice sheets melted and/or collapsed. Sedimentary evidence from the eastern Bahamas includes wave-transported megaboulders, lowland chevron storm ridges, and hillside runup deposits. This “trilogy” collectively provides direct geological evidence of frequent, intense storms generating sustained long-period waves from the northeast Atlantic Ocean. Penecontemporaneous with wave deposits is the subtidal production and flux of a massive volume of ooid sediments associated with amplified winds and storminess during the latter half of MIS 5e that resulted in exponential island growth. Steeper temperature and pressure gradients were evident in the North Atlantic Ocean, while the Southern Ocean appears to have had a major role in affecting atmospheric CO₂, as warming of the Southern Ocean drives ventilation of the deep ocean. CO₂ in turn, acts as a tight control knob on global climate.

The dramatic oceanographic and island building events of late MIS 5e are unique among other interglacial periods of the past half million years. The LIG record reveals that strong climate forcing is not required to yield major impacts on the ocean and ice caps. Antarctic ice cores document that LIG atmospheric CO₂ was ~ 275 ppm, while global temperature was In terms of Lyellian uniformitarian principles, the trilogy of coeval deposits of MIS 5e described herein do not translate to our modern climate parameters, and further cannot be explained by coincidental megatsunami. In our industrial world, rapidly increasing atmospheric CO₂ rates (> 2 ppm/yr) have surpassed 408 ppm, levels not achieved since the Pliocene 3 Ma ago, while global temperature increased ~1°C since the 1870s. With greatly increased CO₂ forcing at unmatched rates, except perhaps during global extinction events, dramatic change is certain. In the interest of our future world, we must seek to understand the complex set of linked natural events and field observations that are revealed in the geology of past warmer climates.

Sea-level change and superstorms; geologic evidence from the last interglacial (MIS 5e) in the Bahamas and Bermuda offers ominous prospects for a warming Earth