Ice-sheet collapse and sea-level rise at the Bølling warming 14,600 years ago
Open accessAbstract
Past sea-level records provide invaluable information about the response of ice sheets to climate forcing. Some such records suggest that the last deglaciation was punctuated by a dramatic period of sea-level rise, of about 20 metres, in less than 500 years. Controversy about the amplitude and timing of this meltwater pulse (MWP-1A) has, however, led to uncertainty about the source of the melt water and its temporal and causal relationships with the abrupt climate changes of the deglaciation. Here we show that MWP-1A started no earlier than 14,650 years ago and ended before 14,310 years ago, making it coeval with the Bølling warming. Our results, based on corals drilled offshore from Tahiti during Integrated Ocean Drilling Project Expedition 310, reveal that the increase in sea level at Tahiti was between 12 and 22 metres, with a most probable value between 14 and 18 metres, establishing a significant meltwater contribution from the Southern Hemisphere. This implies that the rate of eustatic sea-level rise exceeded 40 millimetres per year during MWP-1A.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Very high rates of sea-level change (>40 mm/year) occurred at about 14,000-14,300 B.P. during the Bølling warming event.
“Very high rates of sea-level change (> 40 mm/year) occurred at about 14,000 -14,300 B.P. during the Bølling warming event”
From The Anthropocene is functionally and stratigraphically distinct from the Holocene (2016) · cites this paper as [85]
The opening passage (p. 2) reports a sea-level rise exceeding 40 mm/year during an event coeval with the Bølling warming. But it dates that event to after 14.65 ka and before 14.31 ka BP, not about 14.0–14.3 ka BP; the climatic-implications section (p. 14) repeats those bounds. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe magnitude of the rate of rise caused widespread inundation of coastal areas and sedimentary facies back-stepped (retrograded landwards).
“The magnitude of the rate of rise caused widespread inundation of coastal areas and sedimentary facies back-stepped (retrograded landwards).”
From The Anthropocene is functionally and stratigraphically distinct from the Holocene (2016) · cites this paper as [85]
The opening summary (p. 2) reports rapid sea-level rise, and “Occurrence of MWP-1A” (p. 9) reports widespread deepening and backstepping of the Tahitian reef after the event. The paper does not report widespread inundation of coastal areas or establish landward retrogradation of sedimentary facies generally. (LLM, conf=0.85)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Climate change 2007: the physical science basis
Solomon, S., Qin, D., Manning, M., Marquis, M. C., Averyt, K. B., Tignor, M., Miller, H. L., & Chen, Z. (2007) · Cited by 23,398 · see citing works
IntCal13 and Marine13 radiocarbon age calibration curves 0–50,000 years cal BP
Reimer, P. J., Bard, E., Bayliss, A., Beck, J. W., Blackwell, P. G., Ramsey, C. B., Buck, C. E., Cheng, H., Edwards, R. L., Friedrich, M., et al. (2013) · Radiocarbon · doi:10.2458/azu_js_rc.55.16947 · Cited by 14,591 · see citing works
Fairbanks, R. G. (1989) · Nature · doi:10.1038/342637a0 · Cited by 4,593 · see citing works
IntCal09 and Marine09 radiocarbon age calibration curves, 0–50,000 years cal BP
Reimer, P. J., Baillie, M. G. L., Bard, E., Bayliss, A., Beck, J. W., Blackwell, P. G., Bronk Ramsey, C., Buck, C. E., Burr, G. S., Edwards, R. L., et al. (2009) · Radiocarbon · doi:10.1017/s0033822200034202 · Cited by 4,290 · see citing works
Self-citationCollapse and rapid resumption of Atlantic meridional circulation linked to deglacial climate changes
McManus, J. F., François, R., Gherardi, J.-M., Keigwin, L. D., & Brown-Leger, S. (2004) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature02494 · Cited by 2,240 · see citing works
A new Greenland ice core chronology for the last glacial termination
Rasmussen, S., Andersen, K. K., Svensson, A., Steffensen, J., Vinther, B., Clausen, H., Siggaard-Andersen, M., Johnsen, S., Larsen, L. B., Dahl-Jensen, D., et al. (2006) · Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres · doi:10.1029/2005jd006079 · Cited by 2,056 · see citing works
Saier, M. H. (2007) · Water Air & Soil Pollution · doi:10.1007/s11270-007-9372-6 · Cited by 1,981 · see citing works
Peltier, W. R. (1994) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.265.5169.195 · Cited by 1,267 · see citing works
Deglacial sea-level record from Tahiti corals and the timing of global meltwater discharge
Bard, É., Hamelin, B., Arnold, M., Montaggioni, L. F., Cabioch, G., Faure, G., & Rougerie, F. (1996) · Nature · doi:10.1038/382241a0 · Cited by 1,099 · see citing works
Self-citationTiming of the Last Glacial Maximum from observed sea-level minima
Yokoyama, Y., Lambeck, K., Patrick De Deckker, B., Johnston, P., & Fifield, L. K. (2000) · Nature · doi:10.1038/35021035 · Cited by 1,053 · see citing works
Self-citationPeltier, W. R., & Fairbanks, R. G. (2006) · Quaternary Science Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2006.04.010 · Cited by 1,036 · see citing works
Rapid Flooding of the Sunda Shelf: A Late-Glacial Sea-Level Record
Hanebuth, T. J. J., Stattegger, K., & Grootes, P. M. (2000) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.288.5468.1033 · Cited by 951 · see citing works
Kinematic Constraints on Glacier Contributions to 21st-Century Sea-Level Rise
Pfeffer, W. T., Harper, J. T., & O'Neel, S. (2008) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1159099 · Cited by 903 · see citing works
Fairbanks, R. G., Mortlock, R. A., Chiu, T., Cao, L., Kaplan, A., Guilderson, T. P., Fairbanks, T. W., Bloom, A. L., Grootes, P. M., & Nadeau, M. (2005) · Quaternary Science Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2005.04.007 · Cited by 902 · see citing works
Bard, É., Hamelin, B., & Fairbanks, R. G. (1990) · Nature · doi:10.1038/346456a0 · Cited by 848 · see citing works
Self-citationIce sheets and sea level of the Last Glacial Maximum
Clark, P. U., & Mix, A. C. (2002) · Quaternary Science Reviews · doi:10.1016/s0277-3791(01)00118-4 · Cited by 656 · see citing works
Ice-Sheet and Sea-Level Changes
Alley, R. B., Clark, P. U., Huybrechts, P., & Joughin, I. R. (2005) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1114613 · Cited by 560 · see citing works
Meltwater Pulse 1A from Antarctica as a Trigger of the Bølling-Allerød Warm Interval
Weaver, A. J., Saenko, O. A., Clark, P. U., & Mitrovica, J. X. (2003) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1081002 · Cited by 553 · see citing works
Identifying the causes of sea-level change
Milne, G. A., Gehrels, W. R., Hughes, C. W., & Tamisiea, M. E. (2009) · Nature Geoscience · doi:10.1038/ngeo544 · Cited by 515 · see citing works
Reassessment of the Potential Sea-Level Rise from a Collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet
Bamber, J. L., Riva, R. E. M., Vermeersen, B. L. A., & Brocq, A. M. L. (2009) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1169335 · Cited by 514 · see citing works
Simulation of abrupt climate change induced by freshwater input to the North Atlantic Ocean
Manabe, S., & Stouffer, R. J. (1995) · Nature · doi:10.1038/378165a0 · Cited by 509 · see citing works
Rapid sea-level fall and deep-ocean temperature change since the last interglacial period
Cutler, K., Edwards, R. L., Taylor, F. W., Cheng, H., Adkins, J. F., Gallup, C. D., Cutler, P. M., Burr, G. S., & Bloom, A. L. (2003) · Earth and Planetary Science Letters · doi:10.1016/s0012-821x(02)01107-x · Cited by 494 · see citing works
Edwards, R. L., Beck, J. W., Burr, G. S., Donahue, D. J., Chappell, J., Bloom, A. L., Druffel, E. R. M., & Taylor, F. W. (1993) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.260.5110.962 · Cited by 478 · see citing works
Deglacial Meltwater Pulse 1B and Younger Dryas Sea Levels Revisited with Boreholes at Tahiti
Bard, É., Hamelin, B., & Delanghe-Sabatier, D. (2010) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1180557 · Cited by 353 · see citing works
Self-citationOn eustatic sea level history: Last Glacial Maximum to Holocene
Peltier, W. R. (2002) · Quaternary Science Reviews · doi:10.1016/s0277-3791(01)00084-1 · Cited by 352 · see citing works
Sea-Level Fingerprinting as a Direct Test for the Source of Global Meltwater Pulse IA
Clark, P. U., Mitrovica, J. X., Milne, G. A., et al. (2002) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1068797 · Cited by 351 · see citing works
Southern Ocean origin for the resumption of Atlantic thermohaline circulation during deglaciation
Knorr, G., & Lohmann, G. (2003) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature01855 · Cited by 344 · see citing works
Rapid Rise of Sea Level 19,000 Years Ago and Its Global Implications
Clark, P. U., McCabe, A., Mix, A. C., et al. (2004) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1094449 · Cited by 328 · see citing works
Arctic freshwater forcing of the Younger Dryas cold reversal
Tarasov, L., & Peltier, W. R. (2005) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature03617 · Cited by 314 · see citing works
Searching for eustasy in deglacial sea-level histories
Milne, G. A., & Mitrovica, J. X. (2008) · Quaternary Science Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2008.08.018 · Cited by 280 · see citing works
Reconstructing the Antarctic Ice Sheet at the Last Glacial Maximum
Denton, G. H., & Hughes, T. J. (2002) · Quaternary Science Reviews · doi:10.1016/s0277-3791(01)00090-7 · Cited by 233 · see citing works
Timing of meltwater pulse 1a and climate responses to meltwater injections
Stanford, J. D., Rohling, E. J., Hunter, S. E., Roberts, A. P., Rasmussen, S. O., Bard, É., McManus, J. F., & Fairbanks, R. G. (2006) · Paleoceanography · doi:10.1029/2006pa001340 · Cited by 227 · see citing works
Ice Sheet and Solid Earth Influences on Far-Field Sea-Level Histories
Bassett, S. E., Milne, G. A., Mitrovica, J. X., et al. (2005) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1111575 · Cited by 189 · see citing works
Origin of the first global meltwater pulse following the Last Glacial Maximum
Clark, P. U., Alley, R. B., Keigwin, L. D., et al. (1996) · Paleoceanography · doi:10.1029/96pa01419 · Cited by 155 · see citing works
Reconsidering melt-water pulses 1A and 1B: Global impacts of rapid sea-level rise
Liu, P., & Milliman, J. D. (2004) · Journal of Ocean University of China · doi:10.1007/s11802-004-0033-8 · Cited by 151 · see citing works
On the hemispheric origins of meltwater pulse 1a
Peltier, W. R. (2005) · Quaternary Science Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2004.06.023 · Cited by 146 · see citing works
Cabioch, G., Montaggioni, L. F., Faure, G., et al. (1999) · Quaternary Science Reviews · doi:10.1016/s0277-3791(99)00014-1 · Cited by 142 · see citing works
Tarasov, L., & Peltier, W. R. (2006) · Quaternary Science Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2005.12.006 · Cited by 142 · see citing works
Penultimate Deglacial Sea-Level Timing from Uranium/Thorium Dating of Tahitian Corals
Thomas, A. L., Henderson, G. M., Deschamps, P., Yokoyama, Y., Mason, A. J., Bard, É., Hamelin, B., Durand, N., & Camoin, G. (2009) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1168754 · Cited by 128 · see citing works
Self-citationDrowning of the −150 m reef off Hawaii: A casualty of global meltwater pulse 1A?
Webster, J. M., Clague, D. A., Riker‐Coleman, K., et al. (2004) · Geology · doi:10.1130/g20170.1 · Cited by 122 · see citing works
Knorr, G., & Lohmann, G. (2007) · Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems · doi:10.1029/2007gc001604 · Cited by 119 · see citing works
Impact of transient freshwater releases in the Southern Ocean on the AMOC and climate
Swingedouw, D., Fichefet, T., Goosse, H., & Loutre, M. (2008) · Climate Dynamics · doi:10.1007/s00382-008-0496-1 · Cited by 100 · see citing works
Bassett, S. E., Milne, G. A., Bentley, M. J., et al. (2007) · Quaternary Science Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2007.06.011 · Cited by 77 · see citing works
The tracing of riverine U in Arctic seawater with very precise 234U/238U measurements
Andersen, M. B., Stirling, C. H., Porcelli, D., Halliday, A. N., Andersson, P., & Baskaran, M. (2007) · Earth and Planetary Science Letters · doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2007.04.051 · Cited by 69 · see citing works
Entrainment of meltwaters in hyperpycnal flows during deglaciation superfloods in the Gulf of Mexico
Aharon, P. (2005) · Earth and Planetary Science Letters · doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2005.10.034 · Cited by 64 · see citing works
Bentley, M. J. (2009) · Journal of Quaternary Science · doi:10.1002/jqs.1287 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Geochemical constraints on the Laurentide Ice Sheet contribution to Meltwater Pulse 1A
Carlson, A. E. (2009) · Quaternary Science Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2009.02.011 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Are catch‐up reefs an artefact of coring?
Blanchon, P., & Blakeway, D. R. (2003) · Sedimentology · doi:10.1111/j.1365-3091.2003.00603.x · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Could meltwater pulses have been sneaked unnoticed into the deep ocean during the last glacial?
Roche, D. M., Renssen, H., Weber, S. L., et al. (2007) · Geophysical Research Letters · doi:10.1029/2007gl032064 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Drilling logs graphics from 36 Holes of Expedition 310
Camoin, G., Iryu, Y., McInroy, D., & Expedition 310 Scientists (2007) · Proceedings of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program. Expedition reports/Proceedings of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program · doi:10.2204/iodp.proc.310.2007 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Self-citationHigh rates of arc consumption by subduction processes: Some consequences
Lallemand, S. (1995) · Geology · doi:10.1130/0091-7613(1995)023
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
The Anthropocene is functionally and stratigraphically distinct from the Holocene
Waters, C. N., Zalasiewicz, J., Summerhayes, C., Barnosky, A. D., Poirier, C., Gałuszka, A., Cearreta, A., Edgeworth, M., Ellis, E. C., Ellis, M., et al. (2016) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.aad2622 · Cited by 2,375 · see citing works
“during the Bølling warming event, associated with rapid ice sheet disintegration during the transition between the last glacial phase and the current interglacial phase (85).”
BackgroundPronounced interannual variability in tropical South Pacific temperatures during Heinrich Stadial 1
Felis, T., Merkel, U., Asami, R., Deschamps, P., Hathorne, E. C., Kölling, M., Bard, E., Cabioch, G., Durand, N., Prange, M., et al. (2012) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/ncomms1973 · Cited by 77 · see citing works
Comparison of <sup>14</sup>C and U-Th Ages in Corals from IODP #310 Cores Offshore Tahiti
Durand, N., Deschamps, P., Bard, E., Hamelin, B., Camoin, G., Thomas, A. L., Henderson, G. M., Yokoyama, Y., & Matsuzaki, H. (2013) · Radiocarbon · doi:10.2458/azu_js_rc.v55i2.16134 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Self-citation
- Authors
- Deschamps, P., Durand, N., Bard, E., Hamelin, B., Camoin, G., Thomas, A. L., Henderson, G. M., Okuno, J., & Yokoyama, Y.
- Affiliations
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- University of Oxford (GB)
- National Institute of Polar Research (JP)
- Corresponding author
- Deschamps, Pierre
- ORCID
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2012-03
- Volume
- 483
- Issue
- 7391
- Pages
- 559-564
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W2018560310
- Cited by
- 606
- References
- 52
- Citations by year
- 2026: 24 · 2025: 32 · 2024: 28 · 2023: 32 · 2022: 37 · 2021: 58 · 2020: 42 · 2019: 50 · 2018: 41 · 2017: 39 · 2016: 49 · 2015: 61 · 2014: 50 · 2013: 40 · 2012: 21
- FWCI
- 37.56
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- Licence
- other-oa
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Edinburgh Research Explorer (University of Edinburgh) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Comer Science and Education Foundation
- Institut de Recherche pour le Développement
- European Science Foundation
- Natural Environment Research Council (NE/D001250/1)
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (21253001, 23501255)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Geology and Paleoclimatology Research
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Oceanography › Marine and environmental studies
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Earth-Surface Processes › Geological formations and processes
- Keywords
- meltwater pulse 1A, sea level rise, ice sheet collapse, last deglaciation, Antarctic ice sheet, eustasy, Tahiti, abrupt climate change, IODP Expedition 310
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Freezing, Oceans and Seas, Polynesia, Seawater, Time Factors, Uncertainty, Anthozoa, Ice Cover, History, Ancient, Global Warming, Coral Reefs
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
