Late Quaternary Relative Sea-level Changes in Mid-latitudes

High quality relative sea-level (RSL) data from mid-latitude regions reveal spatial and temporal variations among eustatic, isostatic (glacio and hydro) and local factors since the Last Glacial Maximum. In regions of the Atlantic seaboard of North America and Europe that were once covered by the major ice sheets RSL fell by over 100m because of isostatic rebound. In contrast, the regions at the periphery and beyond of the ice sheets observations showed continually rising sea levels, at variable rates, due to the interplay between post-glacial isostatic recovery, marginal forebulge collapse and hydro-isostatic loading. The RSL observations from the Southern Hemisphere illustrated a mid-Holocene highstand of various magnitudes and timing