The regional response to eustatic (global) sea-level change is difficult to predict even for an area like Maine whose known history of sea-level change is quite detailed. This is, in part, because the historic process in Maine was a complicated mix of sea-level change and land-level alterations. Such land-level alterations include, for example, the weighting down of Earth's crust by local ice sheets and later rebound that occurred soon after the last Ice Age, from about 14,000 to 10,000 years ago. Local earthquake activity might have also distorted the coastline.
The artist notes: A week of scouting along the coast of Maine left me with plenty of creative inspiration as well as much to ponder regarding the rough beauty of the rocky coast. Questions arose within me, “Would the majestic pounding of the north Atlantic against these massive, weighty blocks continue, or, at some near future point, would the blocks slowly disappear beneath the devouring waves of a rising sea? Would all this beauty that has withstood the ages finally succumb to global climate change?” |
