Ancient Mangroves Beneath Great Barrier Reef Pose Sea Level Puzzle

[hatrack]

"The discovery of ancient mangrove forest remains under the Great Barrier Reef has cast doubt on some theories about how quickly the sea level rose after the last ice age.

Most scientists believe it was a gradual rise over the past 9,000 years. But the existence of relic mangroves 70cm (27in) below the floor of the Barrier Reef, some with leaves and branches still intact, suggests an abrupt rise.

Dan Alongi, a biologist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science, said it appeared that sea levels rose about 3 metres in less than 30 years, drowning forests and flooding estuaries, 20 times faster than previously thought.

"Material was very much intact, it didn't even have time to fully decompose when it was buried," he said. "So it does tell us that when climate change last happened it was comparatively quick."

EDIT

http://www.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,12374,1423983,00.html

[BeFree]

1. Could be??

Not to discount the idea of rapid sea level change, but one reason mangroves would be found under the reef is that the land dropped because of an earthquake. Some sat. pics from Aceh, Indonesia, showed what appeared to be land dropping below sea level after that quake.

Land rising and dropping is quite well known. Most mountains were once sea beds.