It became apparent that
the pattern of Holocene relative sea-level change has varied from
place to place; there has been a highstand of sea level in the Pacific
during the past 6000 years BP (Thom and Chappell, 1975), in contrast
to an Atlantic sea-level curve that has been rising continuously to
present at a decelerating rate (Adey, 1978). Although Fairbridge had
inferred a series of pronounced oscillations in Holocene sea level,
these were an artefact of his collating evidence from the Caribbean,
which has not experienced sea level above present during theHolocene,
and Australia, which has had a sea level close to present, and in some
places above present, during the past 6 ka (Lewis et al., 2013). For
much of this period sea-level changes are considered to be gradual,
although debate continues as to the extent to which there have been
oscillations.