Episodic reef growth in the Last Interglacial driven by competing influence of polar ice sheets to sea level rise
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Updated: Jun 16, 2025

Using Generative Art to Convey Past and Future Climate Transitions
Published on: March 31, 2023
Karen Vyverberg1, Andrea Dutton1,2, Belinda Dechnik3
1University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA.
Abstract:
Rapid, millennial-scale changes in sea level have been proposed for the beginning, middle, and/or end of the Last Interglacial (LIG) [~129 to 116 thousand years ago (ka)]. Each of these scenarios has different implications for polar ice sheet behavior in a warming world. Here, we present a suite of 230Th ages for fossil corals in the Seychelles within a detailed sedimentary and stratigraphic context to evaluate the evolution of sea level during this past warm period. The rise to peak sea level at ~122 to 123 ka was punctuated by two abrupt stratigraphic discontinuities, defining three distinct generations of reef growth. We attribute the evidence of episodic reef growth and ephemeral sea-level fall to the competing influence of Northern Hemisphere ice melt and Antarctic ice regrowth. Asynchronous ice sheet contributions would mask the full extent of retreat for individual ice sheets during the LIG and imply greater temperature sensitivity of ice sheets than previously inferred.
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