2 Rapid eustatic changes-

never globally uniform

Wil(y Fjeldskaar
R ogaland Research Institute, PO Box 2503, N 4004 Stavanger, Norway

The classical definilion of custasy is vertical movemcrns of sea leve), which were originally believed lO be worldwidc
simultaneous uniform changes. However, changcs in distribution of the Earth's mass bring about geoid changcs, and
rcsulting changcs of sea lcvcl may vary significan ti y ovcr thc globc. Accordingly, it is difficult to imagine any significant
sea-level changcs which are globally uniform.
The geoid is defined as thc cquipotcntial surfacc of thc Eanh's gravitational ficld that corrcsponds lO thc sea Je,·el. Any
process causing sca-levcl movemcms changcs the gravity field. This chapter focuses on thc supposcdly most important cause
of ra pid sea-leve) variations, namely glaciarionfdeglaciat ion.
Calculations of gravity changes due to glaciationfdcglaciation show that thc resulting sca-lcvel movcments diffcr
significamly over t.hc globc. During a dcglaciation therc is no uniform worldwidc rise in sea levcl duc 10 an incrcascd vol u me
of ocean water; in the rcgion near thc former glacicr there is actually a fall in sea levcl. During thc dcglaciation in
Scandinavia, the sea level pcrhaps fell severa) tens ofmctcrs. Thc arca whcrc thc sea levcl falls has a lateral cx tcnt ofscvcral
hundred kilometers. Outsidc this arca thc sea level riscs.
Funhermorc, it is demonstrated that rapid sea-leve! changcs, regardless of cause, give rise to processes which alter the
geoid. Rapid custatic changcs are thus ncvcr uniform ovcr the globe. Processes of more long-tcrrn eustatic change, such as
changes in thc occan ridgc systerns and small-scalc sedimcntation, probably cannot take place ci ther without altering thc
gcoid.
Geoidal custasy is an importam cffcct, and must be takcn into account in corrclations of sea lcvcl changcs. This implics
that any custatic curve claiming to be global may be questioncd.

INTRODUCTION (d ) other eustatic processes, such as thermal expansionf

The word 'eustasy' (Greek, ev=good, stasis= position) was
first proposed by Eduard Sucss ( 1888). His studies of
T eniary stratigraphy indicated thar transgressions took
place simultaneously all over Europe. Marine sediments
above the present sea level were explained by movement~
ofthe occan level. However, while the sea-level record was
influenced , to a certain extent, by local tectonics, Suess
found no sign oflargc-scale vertical movements ofthe sol id
Earth. He assumed that changes in sea level were caused
by climatic variations, tectonic movements, volcanism
a nd , most importantly, sedimentation.
Eustasy is commonly defined as globally uruform sca-
level changes. The theory of classical eustasy ( Fairbridge,
1961 ) distinguished between different types of eustaric
changes of sea level:
(a} tectono-eustasy caused by volcanism, development
of fold belts and oceanic trenches and isostatic
movements;
(b) sedimento-custasy caused by sedimcn tation;
(e) glacio-eus tasy caused by glaciations;
contraction of the ocean water and production of
water by volcanocs.
Great effort has been spent on constructing global e us tatic
curves for thc Quaternary (e.g. Fairbridge, 1961 ) as well as
for the emire Phanerozoic. The most well known curves for
long-term changes are the 'Exxon curves' (Vail el al., 1977;
Haq el al., 1987) . The methodology u pon whicb these
curves are based (stratigraphic models and ch ronostrati-
graphic interprctations}, has been criticized and the global
universality ofthe curves has been questioned (e.g. Miall,
1986) . Tbe intcntion oftbis chapter is 10 show, theoretically
ancl numerical ly, that tbe processes causing rapid custatic
changes do not operate without significamly influencing
the gra,;ty ficld, resulúng in non-unjform sea-level changes
over the globe. We will focus on the most important causes
of e us tatic cha nge, glaciations, sedimenlation ancl varia-
tions ofthe ocean ridge system. The non-uniformity ofthe
rapid eustatjc change is illustrated by a series of calculations
of the geoid changes associatcd with the last glaciation in
Europe.
It is also shown that rapicl changcs in sea level, such as

CAml~ttio• m Hpfrl)(nrbon Expl•rntion © Norwcgian Pcrrolcum Socicry (Craham & Troaman. 1989) pp. 13- 19.
14 Corrtlation in H;·drorarbon Explora/ion

those reponed by Vail el al. ( 1977), whatever rheir cause,
lead lO subsidence of the ocean noor and to significan!
uplift of the continents. The crustal movements affect the
geoid, giving non-uniform custatir changes.
THE GEOID
lt was already well known in thc 19th century that the
mass of mountains causes considerable deAeclions of the
plumb linc. Pratt ( 1855) claimcd that this would cause
a rise in sea leve! in the vicinity of the mountains, and
presented numerical ca lcula tions of this e ffect. The irre-
gular ocea n leve) was later named ' the geoid' (Listing,
1873) .
The geoid is a n equipotential surface of the Earth's
g ravitationa l field, corresponding to sea level. Sea level can
be measured only over oceans, but the geoid is a complete,
closed surface. Under the con tinents the geoid can be
thought of as the surface defincd by the water level in
narrow ca nals cu t to sea leve! through the land masses.
Wherc there are local variations in g, due to interna!
density anomalies, the geoid is distoned. A mathcmatiral
figure representing the sea-Ievel surface with all irregul-
arities removrd ís named the sphcroíd. Thís would be thc
sea-leve! surface ofan Earth with no lateral varialions in
density. Thc differcnce in clevation bctween rhe mcasurcd
geoid and the sphcroid is callcd rhc geoid anomaly. A map
of rhe gcoid a nomaly is shown in Fig. l.
The geoid configuration is not stablc, but changcs over
time duc to changes in the Earth's gravitational field.
Sorne of thc major anomalies illustrated in Fig. 1, such as
the geoid high over New Guinea or the geoid low over
I ndia, are probably relatcd to rnantle convcction or
plate-tectonic phenomena (cf. Chase, 1979; Ricard el al.,
1988) .
EUSTATIC CHANGE
Bearing in mind the geoid changcs caused by changcs in
the Earth's mass distribution, the concept of eustasy is not
straightforward. Sea level is, in general, nol parallel with
the Earth's spheroid, and is not stablc. Gcoid changcs are
brought about both by externa! (climate changes, sedi-
mentation, etc. ) and interna! (mantle flow , corc/mantle
changcs etc.) processes.
An up-to-date definition of eustasy is vertical changes of
sea leve!, regard less ofcausation (Morner, 1976), and these
are ccrt ainly not globally uniform (except for sea-leve)
effects due to possible changes in the volume of the
hydrosphere or expansion/contraction of the Eanh) .
Eustasy is of three types:
( 1) G lacial-eustasy ís controlled by variation of the
occan water volume. Thr most cffective mcchanism for
such varía tions is, ofcoursc, glacia tionfdeglaciatio n. Thcse
variations are ofshon timescale, rcsulting in rapid sca-level
Auctuations, and would account for the oscillations of sea
level inferred for the Oligoccne-Miocene and onwards
(Tanner, 1968; Rona, 1973), for the Permian and for the
Ordovician p .1orner, 1987) . In addition, oxygen-isotope
clara indicate ice build-up cvcn in the ea rl y T ertiary
(Matthews, 1983) . Glacial-eustatic changes thus provide
an cxplanat'ion for most of the third-order cydcs of the
' Exxon curves'.
(2) Tcctono-eustasy is ro ntrolled by variation of thc
ocean basin volume. The most importan! factors in such
changcs are scdimentatio n (Hays and Pitman, 1973) and
varia tions in the vol u me of ocean ridge systems (Pitman,
1978) . lntraplate stresses (C iocting h el al. , 1985) may
p rovidc a tcctonic mechanism for short-term sctl-lcvel
changrs.
(3) C coidal eustasy is caused by variations in the
Earth's gravitational fi eld.
DEGLACIATION AND THE GEOID
Geoidal custasy is change in thc ocean wate1· distribution.
lt affccts thc occan level g lobally, but the sign and
magnitude ofchanges differ over the globe. The importancc
of the gcoidal eustatic proccss will now be illustratcd by
a theorctical simulation ofgcoid dcformation connectcd to
deglaciation.
Changc in the shape of the gcoid is an often ovcrlooked
effect of dcglaciation, although severa! papers havc de-
scribed this efi'ect. The first author tO do so was Penck
( 1882) . He was followed by Woodward ( 1888), who m a de
numerical calculations of thc effecLand concluded that it

c:J BOm
mm ~o Conlour tnl en•ol 10 "'

mm 20
Shodtng trHervol 30 m

~-10

--40
- -70
Fig. l. Thc prcscm shapc of thc gcoid (from Carey, 1981 ).
 Rapid 1!-'ustatir Clwnges .Neuer Global/y Unijorm 15

was certainly significant. The cflect then seems to have

been forgotten fo r many years, u ntil j r nsen ( 1972) revived
the subjcct. In recent years severa! authors writing about
postglacial uplift and sea-leve! changes have taken this
effect into accou nt (c.g. Cathles, 1975, 1980; C lark,
Farrell and Clark, 1976; Clark, Far rell and Peltier, 1978;
Fjeldskaar, 1978, 1981 ; Fjeldskaar and Kanestmm, 1980;
Peltier, 1980; Wolf, 1985; Nakada and Lambeck, 1987).
As most of these studies are concerned with global post-
glacial sea-leve! changes, the importance ofgeoidal custasy
near previous ice shee1s is nol easily extracted.
1n thc following calcuJa1ions, thc isolated effect of
geoidal eustasy is ill ust rated in connection with glacia l ion/
deglaciation ancl relatcd crustal uplift in Fcnnoscandia
and the Barcnts Sea. The glaciation data used in the
calcu la1ions an: based on lhc last glaciation, bul the
rcsulting geoidal effec1 can be applied lo o1hcr glaciation
pcriods as well. In fact, 1he extenl ofthe last great ice sheet
in Euro pe seems to be small than previous ice sheets, and is
ccrtainl y smaller than the Canadian ice sheet.
T he maxjmum extenl (at 20 000 years BP) ofth e las t ice
sheet in Europc is shown in Fig. 2 (Dcnton and H ughes,
1981 ) . Let us first assumc tha1 1hc ice sheet m elts rapidly.
This is not what happcned in this particu lar case (rapid Fig. 3. T hcorctical deflec tion of the geoid causcd by an
dcglaciation migh1, however, have occurrcd in other instantancous clcg laciation of thc ice sheet o f Fig. 2. T hc con tour
periods), but it gi\'es usa fceling for thc geoidal effect. The intrrval is lOm.
calcula1 ions are carried out using a Fourier transform
1cchnique, using equation (3) of the Appendix. The
calculatcd geoidal euwuic effcct in central arcas ofthc ice
sheet is rlose 10 100 m ( Fig. 3). T his is the fall of the geoid
caused by a rapicl (instantaneous) deglaciation, or the rise
of the geoid caused by a rapici glaciation. Notice also the
large diffcrencc in geoiclal effect in the North Sea ancl the
Barents Sea, up to 30-40 m.
However, a realistir simulation of the geoidal eustatic
eAccts connected to the deglaciation requires consicleration
of the deglaciation history. From the marginal moraines of
different ages wc know that dcglaciation took place over
a time span ofabout 1O 000 years. The deglaciation history
used (Figs 2 and 4-6) was compiled by B. G. Andcrsen
(Den ton and Hughes, 198 1). Duri ng deglaciation the

Fig. 4. The ice sheet at 15 000 BP. T hc con tOur in terval is

400 m (ice sheet margins are rcdrawn after Den ton and Hughcs,
1981 ) .

crust is uplifted to approach a new state of equilibrium

Fig. 2. Thc cx tcnt and thickncss of thc ice sheet in Europe at
thc last glacial maximum (20 000 BP) . Thc con tour intcrval is
4·00m (rcdrawn aftcr Dcnton and Hugh cs, 1981 ) .
consisten1 with the rernoval of ice: this is the isostatic
process. When there is a very slow d eglaciation, the related
geoidal euslatic deflec1ions tend tO be smeared out,
because lost ice mass is compensated for by increased
crustal masses.
Cathles ( 1975) la id the theoretical foundations necessary
to model the isostatic adjustments of a (Maxwell) visco-
elastic Earth, in which viscosity varics with depth. A Aat-
Earth approximation is uscd herc. A study of postglacial
uplift in Scandinavia has revealed the necessary information
about the lithosphere and mande to permita simulation of
the geoidal eustasy in the arca (Fjeldskaa r and Cathles,
16 C11Trtlation in Hydrowrbon l::xploralion
Fig. 5. The ice sheet at 10000 BP. Thc contour intcrva1 is
400 m (ice sheet margins are redrawn aftcr Den ton and Hughcs,
1981 ).
Fig. 6. The ice sheet at 9300 BP. The con tour interva1is 400 m
(ice sheet margins are redrawn after Den ton and Hughcs, 1981 ) .
1987). In that study it was shown that the best fit with the
observed present rate ofuplift in Norway is achieved with
a lithosphere of mechanical thickness 80 km and a mantle
viscosity of 1.0 x 1022 poise, except for a 75 km astheno-
sphere of viscosity 1.3 x 1020 poise.
T he ice sheet is assumed to have been in isostatic
equilibrium prior to 20 000 BP. Thus there is no geoid
deflection in the area. Melting of the ice started at
20 000 BP and continued until the arca became ice-free at
8500 BP. The melting from one ice sheet configuration to
the next (shown in Figs 2 and 4-6) is modelled wirh
uniform speed. The theoretical history of gcoidal eustatic
Fig. 7. Theoretica1 geoid deformar ion at 15 000 BP eaused by
thc observcd deglaciation. The conto ur intcrval is 5 m
Fig. 8. Thcorctical geoid defonnation at 9000 BP causcd by
thc obscrved deglaciation. Thc contour intcrval is 5 m.
change bascd on this Eanh rheology and the above glacial
history is prcsented in Figs 7 a nd 8.
Thc modcllcd ice melting startcd at 20 000 BP, mainly
in thc Barcnts Sea, and at 19 000 BP there is a growing
gcoid deformation in this arca. The deformation in the
Ba rents Sea increases to about 3 1 m a t 15 000 BP (Fig. 7) .
After 15 000 BP the deformation begins to decrease, while
deformation in Scandinavia is devdoping. At 9000 BP thc
geoid is almost back to normal in the Barents Sea, and at
the same time the geoid deformation in Scandinavia is at
a maximum of about 25m (Fig. 8) . From 9000 BP to the
present thc geoid slowly returns to the undcformed state.
At prcsem thc geoid is approximatcly 2m from equilibríum.
 Rapid Eustatic Challgts- Ntvtr Global/y Uniform 17

EFFECT OF SEA LEVEL RISE

g ----------~--------~r---------,----------,
/".... ORDER NO . t O
,-· •• ORDER NO . 2
-'~~ -- ---:-:_:-:_:
-.:;--:.:-:.:-~-=.;--
:..:-:.:-.::.--::..:-::..::-:.=¡- • EQU t Lt BR t UM

5l
1

ª1
~--------~----------~----------L---------~
o 5 10 15 20
llme l 1000 ~earsl

Fig. 9. Effccts ofsca-levcl risc, rcgardlcss of causat.ion. Thc sca-levcl risc i~ assu"?cd to takc pla~c a t. uniform spcc? ovcr 10 000 yca~.
The horizontal axis shows time aftcr thc start ofsca-lcvcl changc, and the vcrucal ax1s shows deOccnons 111 the pcrccntage oftotal sea-le\ el
rise.

GLACIAL EUSTASY IN GENERAL Sedhnentation

Let us now look a t glacial eustasy from a more genera l
global point ofvicw. Any sea-leve! change causes deflection
of the ocean Aoor, hydro-isostasy, to attain isosratic
cquilibrium. The hydro-isostasy is approximarely one-
third of the sea-leve! change. The continents are simul-
tancously deAectecl , with a mean magnitude over rhc
continents that is twice the deAection of the ocean Aoor.
This is due to the fact that the oceanic arca is double the
land arca. These points are illusrrated in Fig. 9.
The process of hydro-isostasy and its influence on sea
leve! has been examined by severa! authors (e.g. Walcott,
1972; Chappell, 1974). An interesting implication of
hydro-isostasy is the fact that the sea-leve! history will
differ between occanic islands and continental margins.
An island moving with the sea floor will record the full
sea-leve! change, while points near the continents record
quite different sea-leve! changes. Thus hydro-isostasy is an
imponant factor in determining relative sea-leve! fluctu-
ations.
J\nother inreresring consequence of hydro-isostasy is the
fact that neither the ocean flooP' nor the land masses will
achieve isostatic equilibrium during rapid sea-level changes,
regardless of causation. The degree of compensation ~aries
Sed ime11tation is a much slower process than g laciation/
deglaciation, giving the crust a. ~hance to main~ai~
isostatic equilibrium during deposn10n. However, th1s 1s
the case only when the deposits are of long wavelength.
A load ofshort wavelength will be balanced entirely by the
lithosphere. The wavclength ofthe surface load is so smaU
that rhe lithosphere is effectively infinite, and no buoyant
forces are active. For a lithosphere of flexura! rigidiry
5 x 1023 Nmanda load wavelength ofless than 200 km , the
load is more than 95° 0 supported by the lithosphere (Fig.
1O) (Fjeldskaar and Pallesen, 1989). Then eh ere is o~! y
negligible isostalÍc movem~nt, and ~ny mass anom~hes
cause deflections of the geo•d, accordmg to the equauons
( 1)-(3) (see the Appendix) .
J\ssuming dcposition within a small circular sedimentary
basin, with a radius of 50 km, a thickness of 3 km a nd
a sed iment density of 2 g cm - 3 , a geoid deflection of 13m
above the centre of the basin, decreasing radially, will
form, according to cquation (2) .
w o
(.)

with the wavelength of the load. The mean deflecuon of z

w
o
the ocean Aoor and the continents, calculated for order no. ¡¡; a>
CD ci
2 (wavelength 16000km ) and order no. 10 (wavelength ;:,
<1)
3800 km), is illustrated in Fig. 9. F'or order no. 2 (relaxation ::<
;:, <D
time 800 years; Fjeldskaar and Cathles, unpublished ci
result) there is close isostatic equilibrium during the
a:
CD
::;
sea-leve! change. For order no. JO (relaxation time 3000 5 ,.
years; Fjeldskaar and Cathles, unpublished result) the ow o
deAection is clearly delayed comparcd to the sea-levcl I.L
o
change, giving rise ro geoidal deAections over the oceans as z
(\)

o
well as over the continents. o
¡:
(.)
~ o
a: cio
I.L 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600
TECTONO-EUSTASY AND THE GEOID WAVELENGTH (Km)

As mentioned above, the most important fac tors inAuenc- Fig. 10. Subsidencc of the base of 1he lithospherc, rclative to
ing changes of the ocean basin vol u me .are sedimentation cquilibrium subsidencc. Thc Acxura l rigidity is 5 x 10,' Nm
and variations in the vol u me of ocean ndge systems. (from fjeldskaar and Pallcscn, 1989).
18 Corrtlalion in Hydrocarbon l:.xploration
Change in spreading rate
Ricard et al. (1988) have presented calculations of the
effect of lateral variations in the upper mantle viscosity
connected to diverging or converging continental masscs.
They conclude that largc-scaJe gcoid deRections will
occur, with magnitudes dcpending on the plate velocities.
The large-scale geoid mínimum d eflection located at
a diverging plate boundary, assuming a velocity of
1Ocm yr - 1 , could be 60 m. 1t is suggested that the lndian
geoid low (or parts of ir) could be explained in this way.
Thus it seems very unlikcly that tectono-eus tasy (with
tbe cxccption of large-scalc sedimcntation) could opera te
without introducing large gcoidal eustatic effects.
CONCLUSIONS
Eustatic sca-levcl changes are nevcr globally uniform,
because any cause of sea-level change simult aneously
affects the Earth's gcoid. Reconstruction ofthc ocean level
is thus more complicated than is usually imagined. Eustatic
changcs have thrce main causes; ( 1) glacial custasy, (2}
tectono-custasy and (3) geoidal eustasy.
This chaptcr has focuscd on the geoidal eustatic changcs
related to the dcglaciation of thc last great ice sheet in
Europc, which has been shown to be a significant factor in
sea-levcl changes. The results of our calculations indica te
a fall in sea level in the vicinity ofthe former ice cap, causcd
by a gravitational changc related LO the d eglaciatio n.
lL has a lso becn shown that any rapid changc in thc
ocean water vol u me will affcct the gcoid. 1t is thus strongly
suggestcd that rapid eustatic sea-leve! changes are nevcr
globally unifol'rn.
Not even processes of more long-tcrm eustatic changc,
such as variations of ocean ridge systems or small-scale
sedimentation, scem to occur without affecting the geoid.
Thus any e usta tic curve claimed LO be global may be
questioned: rathcr, in the future more effort should be
spent on constructing regional eustatic curves.
ACKNO~DGEMENTS
This work benefitted from the intcrcst and enthusiasm of
my colleagues at Rogaland Rescarch 1nstitute. The permis-
sion to reproduce copyright material ( Fig. 1) was grantcd
by thc Editor, Proceedings of tite Royal Society of Victoria.
1 thank the refcrce, Sierci Cloetingh, for his constructivc
comments.
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APPENDIX
For a sphcrical Ear th, thc geoid deformation s(y) at a distancc
)' fi·om a point mass m is (H clmert, 1884):
mR
s(y ) = - (Rfy- 1), ( 1)
¡\/
whcre R and M are thc Earth's radius and mass, respcctively.
For a circul ar mass anomaly ofradius a a nd uniform thi t kn ess
T. thc geoid d cfo rm ation (s 0 ) of the centre is (Hclmert, 188•~ ) :
3p nT
s = -1 - (2)
o 2po R
where p1 and Po are thc density of thc mass anomaly and of thc
Ea rth. rcspcct ive ly.
19
\'\1olf;
D. 1985. On dcg1aciation-induced perturbations of the
geoid. Con. J. Eorth Sci., 23, 269 272.
Woodward, R . S. 1888. On the form a nd posi tion ofthc sea levcl.
U. S. Ceo/. Surv. Bu/l. , 4a, 87- 170.
T hc above app roximations can be used for rough esúmates of
geoid dcformation. For a more accurate estima te the load can be
a nalyscd into its ha rmonie compo nents using thc Fouricr trans-
form tcchnique, whieh allows an ape riodic func tion (s uch as ice
distribution) to be cxprcsscd asan integral su m O\'er a continuous
range of waq~ 11umbers (the inversc of wavc1cngths) .
For a harmoni c load, th c gcoicl dcfo rm a tion is givc n by thc
ana lyti cal exprcssion (Cathles. 1975):
4/t(L )rrGp,R
s(l.) (3)
(2L+ l )go'
wherc Lis the ordcr numbcrofthc load ( L = 2rrRfl. - t J; and !t( /. J
and p 1 are the amplirudc a nd d ensit y ofth c lo:~ d, respcctively, G.
is thc g ra\·itationa l constant a nd !lo is th c surfacc g ravity.