The history of sea level is one of the most important paleoclimatic and paleoceanographic parameters. Knowledge of this variable constrains the history of ice sheet growth and decay, and its relationship to climate forcing. Likewise the history of CO2 in the atmosphere is also critical to our understanding of climate. This proposal requests support to address both of these issues. This project will use samples recovered from the coral reef terraces of Santo Island, Vanuatu, in order to obtain a high-resolution record of sea level history and initial 14C/12C ratios for the last 30,000 years. The samples result from collaboration of the PIs with an ongoing project of drilling on Santo Island led by scientists from ORSTROM in New Caledonia. The costs of the drilling are provided by ORSTROM. The research proposed here is important because it will help to constrain the history of sea level during the last deglaciation and it will further refine our 14C chronology during this interval.
