Late Holocene Caspian Sea Level Changes and its Impacts on Low Lying Coastal Evolution: a Multidisciplinary Case Study from South Southeastern Flank of the Caspian Sea

Caspian Sea is the largest land locked water body in the world and has been characterized by significant relative sea-level changes since the Pliocene. The sea-level oscillations have strongly impacted the coastal areas depending on geomorphological setting. This study aims to investigate the impacts of sea level oscillations on low-lying coasts of the southeastern flank of the Caspian Sea using sedimentological, paleontological and geophysical tools. The results show that barrier-lagoon development with overstepping migration of the complex is the response of low lying coasts to the rapid sea level changes. Moreover, development of saline environments is another response to sea level changes for more inland coastal areas. According to the radiocarbon dating results, the area was subjected to Amudarya flooding around 1800 BP and high sedimentation rate in the second half of the Little Ice Age, underpinned by higher precipitation rate and sea-level rise.