Rapid Caspian Sea-level change and its impact on Iranian coasts

The Late Pleistocene and Holocene evolution as well as recent developments of the southern coast of the Caspian Sea have been studied using remote sensing and core data. This thesis focuses firstly on recent shoreline shifts during the last rapid sea-level cycle between 1929 and 1995, with an amplitude of three meters. Secondly, it shows a reconstruction of past Caspian Sea-level change and palaeoenvironments in an area very sensitive to such changes. A new tentative Holocene Caspian Sea-level curve has been reconstructed, which might help to predict future Caspian Sea-level. Up to now there has been no consensus on the chronology and amplitudes of Holocene Caspian sea-level oscillations due to problems with sampling strategies, absolute dating, relative tectonics, deformation, different datum levels and absence of data on long-term development of Caspian Sea-level.Geoscience & EngineeringCivil Engineering and Geoscience