Sea-level curves: Perplexities of an end-user in morphotectonic applications

Several sea-level curves, from the classical ones to some of the most recently published, are analysed and compared. Although this short paper is not a review of the original data and analytical methods used by the different authors, similarities and mainly differences between published sea-level curves are emphasised especially as concern the suggested height and age of the highstand sea-level peaks during the last 450 ka. The perplexities of an end-user when attempting to exploit different curves for investigating uplifted marine terraces are discussed and recommendations are suggested.