• journal_title：Geology
• Contributor：Kenneth G. Miller ; James D. Wright ; James V. Browning ; Andrew Kulpecz ; Michelle Kominz ; Tim R. Naish ; Benjamin S. Cramer ; Yair Rosenthal ; W. Richard Peltier ; Sindia Sosdian
• Publisher：Geological Society of America
• Date：2012-
• Format：text/html
• Language：en
• Identifier：10.1130/G32869.1
• journal_abbrev：Geology
• issn：0091-7613
• volume：40
• issue：5
• firstpage：407
• section：Articles

We obtained global sea-level (eustatic) estimates with a peak of ∼22 m higher than present for the Pliocene interval 2.7–3.2 Ma from backstripping in Virginia (United States), New Zealand, and Enewetak Atoll (north Pacific Ocean), benthic foraminiferal δ¹⁸O values, and Mg/Ca-δ¹⁸O estimates. Statistical analysis indicates that it is likely (68% confidence interval) that peak sea level was 22 ± 5 m higher than modern, and extremely likely (95%) that it was 22 ± 10 m higher than modern. Benthic foraminiferal δ¹⁸O values appear to require that the peak was <20–21 m. Our estimates imply loss of the equivalent of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets, and some volume loss from the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, and address the long-standing controversy concerning the Pliocene stability of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet.