The timing and course of the last deglaciation (23,000-6,000 calendar years BP - cal. yr BP) are essential components for understanding the dynamics of large ice sheets and their effects on Earth's isostasy as well as the complex relationship between freshwater fluxes to the ocean, thermohaline circulation and, hence, global climate during the Late Pleistocene and the Holocene.
This proposal is related to the IODP proposal #519 concerning the coral reef records of Tahiti and the Australian Great Barrier Reef to establish the course of sea-level rise, climate variability and reef response during the last deglaciation. It includes :
1) the study of more than 600 m of reef cores with an exceptional recovery that were retrieved from 37 holes ranging from 40 to 120 m water depth around Tahiti during the IODP Expedition #310 « Tahiti Sea Level ». Distinctive levels of relict reefs covering most, if not all, the last deglaciation were drilled and therefore confirmed the significance of these features as unique archives of abrupt global sea-level rise and climate change.
2) Complimentary investigations of the Tahiti reef slopes, and
3) a site survey cruise on the Great Barrier Reef to generate high resolution bathymetric and seismic data that will be used to select suitable targets for an IODP drilling expedition corresponding to the part 2 of the IODP drilling proposal #519.
The general scientific objectives of this proposal are threefold :
a. To establish the course of post-glacial sea-level rise during the Last Deglaciation .
b. To define SSTs and SSSs variations during the Last Deglaciation when solar insolation, sea level, and atmospheric CO2 levels were different from today.
c. To analyze the impact of sea-level and environmental changes on reef development during the Last Deglaciation, with a special emphasis on the comprehensive reconstruction of environmental changes.
Project Leader:
Dr. Gilbert Camoin
Université d'Aix-Marseille III, CNRS, Aix-en-Provence, France
Principal Investigators:
Professor Edouard Bard
Université d'Aix-Marseille III, CNRS, Aix-en-Provence, France
Professor Wolf-Christian Dullo
Christian Albrechts Universität, Kiel, Germany
Dr. Thomas Felis
Universität Bremen, Germany
Professor Anton Eisenhauer
Kiel University, GEOMAR, Germany
Dr. Martin Koelling
University of Bremen, Germany
Professor Jörn Peckmann
University of Bremen, Germany
Dr. Elias Samankassou
University of Fribourg, Germany
Dr. Alexander Tudhope
Edinburgh University, United Kingdom
Dr. Hildegard Westphal
University of Bremen, Germany
Associated Partners:
Professor Juan Carlos Braga
Universidad de Granada, Spain
Dr. Jody Webster
James Cook University, Townsville, Australia
Dr. Yusuke Yokoyama
University of Tokyo, Japan
