LATE DEVENSIAN AND HOLOCENE RELATIVE SEA-LEVEL CHANGES AT LOCH-NAN-EALA, NEAR ARISAIG, NORTHWEST SCOTLAND

Pollen, diatom, radiocarbon and lithostratigraphical data from isolation basins in northwest Scotland are used to quantify the reference water (tide) level, indicative range and age of different types of isolation and connection contacts. Tendencies of sea-level movement and relative sea-level changes from the mid-Lateglacial Interstadial (11.8 ka BP) to the late Holocene are constructed from these data. Relative sea-level fell continuously from + 17.8 m OD at 11.8 ka BP to ca. +5.2 m OD at 10.1 ka BP. From an unknown minimum between 10 ka and 9 ka BP relative sea-level then rose to + 6.3 m OD at 8.3 ka BP. The maximum Holocene sea-level occurred within the range +6.6 m OD to +9.3 m OD between 6.6 ka BP and 4.0 ka BP before falling to present. Isobase, age-altitude and quantitative rebound models for northwest Scotland are tested using these sea-level data, but none of the published models shows close agreement with the new results.