Asymmetric stabilization: Pacific sloshing

Asymmetric stabilization: Pacific sloshing vs Atlantic filling — This model treats the two oceans’ origins as different: the Pacific behaves as a source-like region whose uplift and subsidence leave a damped, sloshing oscillation, while the Atlantic fills an opening void. The two regimes predict distinct sea-level signatures — overshoot versus sustained rise.

This model treats the origins of the two oceans as different (LOCK → Derive → Gate).

Core idea

This model treats the origins of the two oceans as different:

Pacific: source-like region — uplift followed by subsidence leaves elastic/viscoelastic oscillation.
Atlantic: rupture-like region — newly opened volume is filled by water/sediment, leading to monotone stabilization.

Toy model 1: Pacific sloshing (damped oscillation)

Let Pacific-floor displacement be x(t) and sketch a damped harmonic oscillator

(conceptual only). Coastal RSL, as a mixture of x(t) and water redistribution, can show overshoot (highstand) and relaxation.

Toy model 2: Atlantic filling (volume charging)

Let the “empty volume” of the Atlantic basin be V(t). A conceptual filling sketch is

Thus RSL patterns may show “sustained rise” more than “large overshoot” (P3).

Translation into a test (P3)

P3 must be locked as a test that includes:

fixed correction version: how GIA/crustal motion/sediment/human-activity corrections were applied,
fixed feature definitions: e.g., overshoot amplitude A, relaxation half-time t_1/2, monotonicity index,
stability: leave-one-out checks to ensure the pattern is not dominated by a single site.