Roseby, Zoë A. and Southall, Katherine and Alvarez-Agoues, Fermin and Cahill, Niamh and McCarthy, Gerard D. and Edwards, Robin J. (2023) Two Centuries of Relative Sea-Level Rise in Dublin, Ireland, Reconstructed by Geological Tide Gauge. Open Quaternary, 9. p. 3. ISSN 2055-298X

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Abstract

We demonstrate the utility and reproducibility of the saltmarsh foraminifera-based ‘geological tide gauge’ (GTG) approach by developing two independent records of relative sea-level (RSL) change for Dublin, Ireland. Our records, recovered from two different saltmarshes, indicate that RSL rose at a century-scale rate of 1.5 ± 0.9 mm yr–1 over the last 200 years. This compares favourably with the shorter, but more precise, mean sea level (MSL) record from the Dublin Port tide gauge, which indicates long-term (1953–2016 CE) rise at a rate of 1.1 ± 0.5 mm yr–1. When corrected for the influence of glacio-isostatic adjustment our saltmarsh-based reconstruction suggests sea levels in Dublin rose at a rate of 1.6 ± 0.9 mm yr–1 since the start of the 19th century, which is in excellent agreement with the regional value of MSL rise over the same period (1.5 ± 0.2 mm yr–1) calculated from a compilation of tide gauge records around Britain. Whilst our record has decadal-scale temporal resolution (1 sample every 8 years), we are currently unable to resolve multidecadal-scale variations in the rate of sea-level rise which are masked by the size of the vertical uncertainties (± 20 cm) associated with our reconstruction of palaeomarsh-surface elevation. We discuss the challenges of applying the GTG approach in the typically minerogenic saltmarshes of the NE Atlantic margin and outline potential solutions that would facilitate the production of Common Era RSL reconstructions in the region.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	RE gratefully acknowledges the funding from Science Foundation Ireland Research Frontiers Programme (Project No. 06/RFP/GEO032). GM, ZR, FA, NC and RE acknowledge the A4 project (Grant-Aid Agreement No. PBA/CC/18/01) carried out with the support of the Marine Institute under the Marine Research Programme funded by the Irish Government. This work is a contribution to IGCP Project 725 ‘Forecasting Coastal Change’. GM is additionally supported by iCRAG, with the support of Science Foundation Ireland, under Grant number 13/RC2077_P2. NC is additionally supported by Science Foundation Ireland and the Geological Survey Ireland under grant number 20/FFP-P/8610
Keywords:	Saltmarsh; foraminifera; geological tide gauge; relative sea level; Ireland;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Institutes > Irish Climate Analysis and Research Units, ICARUS
Item ID:	17525
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.5334/OQ.121
Depositing User:	Gerard McCarthy
Date Deposited:	11 Sep 2023 13:35
Journal or Publication Title:	Open Quaternary
Publisher:	Ubiquity Press
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	Publisher
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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