SEA-LEVEL RECORDS AT SIMILAR-TO-80 KA FROM TECTONICALLY STABLE PLATFORMS - FLORIDA AND BERMUDA

Studies from tectonically active coasts on New Guinea and Barbados hav e suggested that sea level at similar to 80 ka was significantly lower than present, whereas data from the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of No rth America indicate an similar to 80 ha sea level close to that of th e present, We determined ages of corals from a shallow submerged reef off the Florida Keys and an emergent marine deposit on Bermuda. Both l ocalities are on tectonically stable platforms distant from plate boun daries. Uranium-series ages show that corals at both localities grew d uring the similar to 80 ha sea-level highstand, and geologic data show that sea level at that time was no lower than 7-9 m below present (Fl orida) and may hale been 1-2 m above present (Bermuda). The ice-volume discrepancy of the 80 ka sea-level estimates is greater than the volu me of the Greenland or West Antarctic ice sheets, Comparison of our ag es with high-latitude insolation values indicates that the sea-level s tand near the present at similar to 80 ha could have been orbitally fo rced.