Submerged Speleothems and Sea Level Reconstructions: A Global Overview and New Results from the Mediterranean Sea

• DOI: 10.20944/preprints202105.0100.v1
• Publication Date: 2021-05-07T06:37:33Z
• Authors: Fabrizio Antonioli; Stefano Furlani; Paolo Montagna; Paolo Stocchi; Lucio Calcagnile; Gianluca Quarta; Jonatan Cecchinel; Valeria Lo Presti; Maurizio Gasparo ...; Franco Foresta Ma...; Valeria Vaccher
• Keywords: 13. Climate action; 14. Life underwater; 01 natural sciences; atmospheric_science; 0105 earth and related environmental sciences

This study presents a world review as well as new additional data in form of submerged speleothems that are used for paleo sea level reconstructions. Speleothems significantly contributed to the understanding of the global and regional sea level variations during the Middle and Late Quaternary. The studied speleothems cover the last 1.4 Myr and are focused mainly on Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 1, 2, 3, 5.1, 5.3, 5.5, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3 and 7.5. Results reveal that submerged speleothems represent extraordinary archives providing detailed information on former sea level changes. We present also new results from stalactites collected in central Mediterranean sea, at Favignana and Ustica islands (Sicily, Italy), both characterized by continental, phreatic or marine layers. The study and analysis of the latter speleothems provide results of great interest for relative sea level changes over the last 1000 years.