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Rising Sea Levels (rising + sea_level)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Humanities and Social Sciences	50%

Selected Abstracts

Reconstruction of the Ross Ice Drainage System, Antarctica, at the Last Glacial Maximum

GEOGRAFISKA ANNALER SERIES A: PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY, Issue 2-3 2000
George H. Denton
We present here a revised reconstruction of the Ross ice drainage system of Antarctica at the last glacial maximum (LGM) based on a recent convergence of terrestrial and marine data. The Ross drainage system includes all ice flowlines that enter the marine Ross Embayment. Today, it encompasses one-fourth of the ice-sheet surface, extending far inland into both East and West Antarctica. Grounding lines now situated in the inner Ross Embayment advanced seaward at the LGM (radiocarbon chronology in Denton and Marchant 2000 and in Hall and Denton 2000a, b), resulting in a thick grounded ice sheet across the Ross continental shelf. In response to this grounding in the Ross (and Weddell) Embayment, ice-surface elevations of the marine-based West Antarctic Ice Sheet were somewhat higher at the LGM than at present (Steig and White 1997; Borns et al. 1998; Ackert et al. 1999). At the same time, surface elevations of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet inland of the Transantarctic Mountains were slightly lower than now, except near outlet glaciers that were dammed by grounded ice in the Ross Embayment. The probable reason for this contrasting behavior is that lowered global sea level at the LGM, from growth of Northern Hemisphere ice sheets, caused widespread grounding of the marine portion of the Antarctic Ice Sheet, whereas decreased LGM accumulation led to slight surface lowering of the interior terrestrial ice sheet in East Antarctica. Rising sea level after the LGM tripped grounding-line recession in the Ross Embayment, which has probably continued to the present day (Conway et al. 1999). Hence, gravitational collapse of the grounded ice sheet from the Ross Embayment, accompanied by lowering of the interior West Antarctic ice surface and of outlet glaciers in the Transantarctic Mountains, occurred largely during the Holocene. At the same time, increased Holocene accumulation caused a slight rise of the inland East Antarctic ice surface. [source]

Biodiversity and Sequence of the Middle Triassic Panxian Marine Reptile Fauna, Guizhou Province, China

ACTA GEOLOGICA SINICA (ENGLISH EDITION), Issue 3 2009
Dayong JIANG
Abstract: The Middle Triassic Panxian fauna is a physical marker and representative record of the rapid recovery of the Triassic marine ecosystem following the Early Triassic stagnant stage after the end-Permian mass extinction. Ten marine reptile taxa have been found from the 1.82,2.10 m-thick fossiliferous level in the Upper Member of the Guanling Formation, which can be subdivided into three marine reptile beds through the analysis on the stratigraphic distributions of fossil reptiles. The Lower Reptile Bed yields the sauropterygians Placodus inexpectatus Jiang et al., 2008 and Lariosaurus hongguoensis Jiang et al., 2006, the ichthyopterygians Xinminosaurus catactes Jiang et al., 2008 and Phalarodon cf. Phalarodon fraasi Merriam, 1910, associated with Mixosaurus panxianensis Jiang et al., 2006, representing a stage of predominance of durophagous taxa. In this bed, the large complete skeletons may reach up to 2.3 m in length, and lithofacies and chemostratigraphic analyses indicate a relatively deep carbonate platform with an oxic water environment near the bottom, as well as a rising sea level. The Middle Reptile Bed yields the sauropterygian Nothosaurus yangjuanensis Jiang et al., 2006 and the archosaur Qianosuchus mixtus Li et al., 2006, associated with Mixosaurus panxianensis Jiang et al., 2006. The fossils in this bed are characterized by its pincering dentition and large overall body size, with the largest possibly exceeding 3 m in length. This bed might represent a time of deepest basin with relatively anoxic condition near the bottom. The Upper Reptile Bed yields the sauropterygians Wumengosaurus delicatomandibularis Jiang et al., 2008, Keichousaurus sp., the protorosaur Dinocephalosaurus orientalis Li, 2003, and the ichthyopterygian Mixosaurus panxianensis Jiang et al., 2006. In this bed, reptilian taxa characterized by suction feeding appeared, and most are less than 1 m long. This bed corresponds to a period of decreasing water depth. [source]

Constructing Vulnerability: The Historical, Natural and Social Generation of Flooding in Metropolitan Manila

DISASTERS, Issue 3 2003
Greg Bankoff
Flooding is not a recent hazard in the Philippines but one that has occurred throughout the recorded history of the archipelago. On the one hand, it is related to a wider global ecological crisis to do with climatic change and rising sea levels but on the other hand, it is also the effect of more localised human activities. A whole range of socio-economic factors such as land use practices, living standards and policy responses are increasingly influencing the frequency of natural hazards such as floods and the corresponding occurrence of disasters. In particular, the reason why flooding has come to pose such a pervasive risk to the residents of metropolitan Manila has its basis in a complex mix of inter-relating factors that emphasise how the nature of vulnerability is constructed through the lack of mutuality between environment and human activity over time. This paper examines three aspects of this flooding: first, the importance of an historical approach in understanding how hazards are generated; second, the degree of interplay between environment and society in creating risk; and third, the manner in which vulnerability is a complex construction. [source]

Schwimmende Architektur: schwimmende Bauten als Aufgabenfeld für die Bauphysik

BAUPHYSIK, Issue 3 2010
Horst Stopp Prof. Dr. sc. techn.
General Abstract Schwimmende Architektur, ein nicht eindeutiger Fachbegriff, wird zunehmend auch in Deutschland thematisiert. Punktuell entstehen exklusive Wohnbauten wie auch einfache schwimmende Ferienhäuser. Infolge spezifischer Randbedingungen auf dem Wasser sowohl für die Schwimmkörper als auch für deren Aufbauten ergeben sich zusätzliche Chancen und Risiken. Der Beitrag behandelt beispielhaft bauphysikalische Bezüge. Entwicklungstendenzen der Weltbevölkerung hinsichtlich Wachstum und Verteilung bei gleichzeitig steigendem Meeresspiegel erfordern künftig ein verstärktes wissenschaftliches Interesse und Engagement der Bauphysik auch für schwimmende Bauten. Floating architecture and the responsibility of building physics for floating buildings. Floating architecture, a new and still unambiguous technical term is increasingly being addressed as subject in Germany. Point by popint exclusive buildings are constructed such as simple floating houses for holidays. As a result of specific boundary conditions of the water area for the pontoons as well as for their construction additional chances and risks are given. The paper represents examples with regard to the building physics. Development trends of the world population concerning growth and distribution coupled with rising sea levels call for an increased scientific interest and engagement of the building physics for floating architecture in future too. [source]