Polar Rise and Equatorial Fall of Sea Level Since the Cretaceous

The theory is explored that sea level has risen in the Arctic and Antarctic regions and fallen in the equatorial regions since the Cretaceous. Such change is considered to be in addition to, or in excess of, Pleistocene eustatic sea-level fluctuations or local isostatic adjustments of the crust. North America obviously shows submerged continental margins north of Puget Sound on the Pacific and New York on the Atlantic, and emerged margins southward. The Arctic region, aside from the Alaskan Coastal Plain, is submerged at least 500 feet in excess of upward Wisconsin isostatic adjustment to date. Both the east and the west coasts of South America are interpreted as emergent southward to Lat. 38°S, and progressively embayed and submerged from there to the southern tip (Lat. 55°S). Antarctica, if adjusted upward to pre-ice conditions, would still be considerably embayed, and its continental shelf is unusually deep. Isostatic adjustments incident to ice melting could not restore this shelf to the usual low-lat...