Sea Surface Studies

The oceans are vast with t,¥o-thirds of our planet being covered by a thick layer of water, the depth of which can be likened to flying above the earth's surface at an altitude of 30,000 feet (9,800 m). Good to play in, essential for life but deadly to breathe, water is important to all organisms on the planet, and the oceans form its major reservoir containing approximately 97 per cent of all freely available surface water. In spite of this obvious importance mankind has still much to learn about this ocean environment. Study of the oceans has grown enormously since the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century voyages of scientific discovery, expanding greatly in the period post 1945. One of the subjects that has blossomed in this period has been the study of the ocean's surface, and in particular the study of sea level and related sea-surface changes. Indeed this topic may even be termed 'popular', as reflected in the growing number of general geo morphology, physical geology and oceanography texts which now give space to the subject.

Inhalt

1. Introduction: First Principles and the Scope of Sea-surface Studies.- 1. Introduction: First Principles and the Scope of Sea-surface Studies.- One: Sea-Surface (Sea-level) Changes: What Are They?.- 2. Ocean Volume Change and the History of Sea Water.- 3. Mechanisms of Relative Sea-level Change and the Geophysical Responses to Ice-Water Loading.- 4. Glaciation and Sea Level: A Case Study.- 5. Tectonic Processes and their Impact on the Recording of Relative Sea-level Changes.- Two: The Evidence and Interpretation of Sea-Surface (Sea-level) Movements.- 6. Dating and Associated Methodological Problems in the Study of Quaternary Sea-level Changes.- 7. Global Analysis and Correlation of Sea-level Data.- Three: The State of Current Knowledge: Regional and Global Views.- 8a. Pre-Quaternary Long-Term Changes in Sea Level.- 8b. Quaternary Sea-level Changes: Northern Hemisphere Data.- 9. Quaternary Sea-level Changes: Southern Hemisphere Data.- 10. Sea-level Changes During the Holocene: The North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans.- 11. Sea-level Changes During the Holocene: The Northwest Pacific.- 12. Holocene Sea-level Changes in Australasia and the Southern Pacific.- The Impact and Application of Sea-surface Changes: An Introduction to Parts Four and Five.- The Impact and Application of Sea-surface Changes: An Introduction to Parts Four and Five.- Four: The Coastline: Processes, Planning and Management.- 13. Coastal Processes: The Coastal Response to Sea-level Variation.- 14. Man's Response to Sea-level Change.- 15. The Greenhouse Effect, Rising Sea Level and Society's Response.- Five: Sea-surface (Sea-level) Changes: Some Wider Implications.- 16. Hydrocarbon Exploration and Biostratigraphy: The Application of Sea-level Studies.- 17. Placer Deposits of the Nearshore and CoastalZones: The Role of Littoral Processes and Sea-level Changes in their Formation.- 18. Sea-surface Variations and Energy: Tidal and Wave Power.- Six: Conclusions.- 19. Sea-surface Changes: Where Do We Go From Here?.- Appendix I.- Appendix II.