Past sea level

High school (ages 12+)
Environment & Earth

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/past-sea-level

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the last glacial maximum sea level drop?Sea levels were approximately 120 meters lower than present
2. What is the key proxy methods?Marine terraces, oxygen isotopes in foraminifera, ice cores, and coral reefs
3. How high were the seas during warm times like the Pliocene?During the Pliocene, the seas were 5 to 25 meters higher than today because the water warmed and ice melted.
4. How low were the seas during the last ice age?About 120 meters lower than today, because a lot of water was locked up in huge ice sheets.

Albedo: The measure of how much light that hits a surface is reflected without being absorbed.
Vicariance: The geographical separation of a population, leading to the formation of new species.
Anthropogenic: Originating in human activity.