GLACIATION AND SEALEVEL - EARLY RESEARCH

Changes of sealevel positions depend on vertical crustal movements, di fferent distributions of oceanic water masses and variations of ocean water volume. In spite of the fact that C. Maclaren explained the rela tions between the fluctuations of continental ice masses and ocean wat er volumes correctly in 1842, only two years after the classical paper of L. Agassiz, it took half a century to reach global agreement on th e matter. Some examples of the different ways of research may illustra te the complex treatment of the problem, the fact that correct approac hes were forgotten but wrong ideas were discussed for decades and the in fluence of geological authorities. However, some problems remain op en even now, such as the exact dating of Pleistocene and Holocene seal evel fluctuations in different geological settings, or the influence o f a changing geoid.