Pleistocene Sea Levels from Raised Coral Reefs of Haiti

Abstract

The elevations and ages of a sequence of three uplifted Pleistocene coral reefs on the Northwest Peninsula of Haiti have been determined. With the assignment of a sea level of +6 meters (relative to the present day) at 130,000 years before present and constant uplift of the reefs, the data indicate that sea level stood –10 and –13 meters at 108,000 and 81,000 years before present, respectively. These results are in substantial agreement with those reported for Barbados and New Guinea and support the hypothesis of constant uplift for each area. Sea level data from raised reefs indicate that the interglacial marine oxygen isotope oscillations during oxygen isotope stage 5 are a result of 30 percent ice volume effects and 70 percent temperature effects.