SEA LEVEL CHANGE ALONG THE TYRRHENIAN COAST FROM EARLY HOLOCENE TO THE PRESENT

Abstract

In any discussion of the evolution of a river basin, the history of sealevel change is important since river gradients and delta developments are strongly influenced by local sea level. Also, sea level provides a reference for inferring past vertical tectonic stability from the geological record. Hence it is appropriate that the discussion on the Tiber basin starts with sea level change along the Tyrrhenian coast during the Holocene. The past evidence for sea level comes from inferences of the position of the sea surface with respect to the present. Hence it is a relative measure; a function of both the changing position of the ocean surface and of the land surface or an integrated measure of changes in ocean volume, land movement and redistribution of water within the ocean basins. The observation therefore contains information on all the processes that change these surfaces: on geophysical, glaciological and oceanographic processes.