Sea-level applications and management

The development of the International Geological Correlation Programme's Project 61 and other international sea-level studies have led to a wealth of new publications since 1975. Part of this growth stems from a widening in understanding of the real problems that would result from a continued rise in global sea-level, whilst part comes from the subject's present popularity in the earth sciences. The potential for the application of sea-level data is wide. The publications in 1977 of VAIL, MITCHUM, TODD, WIDMEIR, THOMPSON, SANGREE, BUBB and HATLEHID's approach to 'seismic stratigraphy' stimulated an expansion in commercial and geological applications of sea-level data. Further, the value of shoreline data in testing models of earth crustal behaviour and mantle rheology is well established. In biogeography, data may be used to test the feasibility of land bridge development and the consequential movements of plants and animals. In the coastal zone, the probable continuing and even accelerating rise of sea-level, resulting from man-induced changes of the environment, has thrown a scare into all those concerned with shoreline management. Ingeneous solutions have been developed to cope with the sea-level problem, ranging from physical barrages to proposals for large-scale water mass transfers. But how technically able, or more importantly, prepared, is mankind to manage a long-term progressively rising sea-level? The aims of Project 61 were found to be unattainable, will the results of Project 200 be of greater practical relevance?