Sea-Level Lowering During the Illinoian Glaciation: Evidence from a Bahama "Blue Hole"

Stalagmites have been recovered from 45 meters below sea level in an underwater karstic cave ("blue hole") near Andros Island in the Bahamas. Uranium series ages, corrected for contamination of the sample by young marine carbonate replacements, show that the speleothem was deposited between 160,000 and 139,000 years before the present. This period corresponds to the Illinoian glacial event and demonstrates that sea level must have been lowered by at least 42 meters (allowing for subsidence) from its present position during this time.