The Uniqueness of Planktonic Ecosystems in the Mediterranean Sea: The Response to Orbital- and Suborbital-Climatic Forcing over the Last 130,000 Years

AbstractThe Mediterranean Sea is an ideal location to test the response of organisms to hydrological transformations driven by climate change. Here we review studies carried out on planktonic foraminifera and coccolithophores during the late Quaternary and attempt the comparison of data scattered in time and space. We highlight the prompt response of surface water ecosystems to both orbital- and suborbital-climatic variations.A markedly different spatial response was observed in calcareous plankton assemblages, possibly due to the influence of the North Atlantic climatic system in the western, central and northern areas and of the monsoon system in the easternmost and southern sites. Orbita…

Holocene millennial-scale climatic variability in the Siciliy Channel (Mediterranean Sea).

Calcareous plankton high resolution biostratigraphy from the Middle Miocene of the Mediterranean area.

Holocene millennial-scale productivity variations in the Sicily Channel (Mediterranean Sea)

[1] The calcareous nannofossil assemblages of Ocean Drilling Program Hole 963D from the central Mediterranean Sea have been investigated to document oceanographic changes in surface waters. The studied site is located in an area sensitive to large-scale atmospheric and climatic systems and to high- and low-latitude climate connection. It is characterized by a high sedimentation rate (the achieved mean sampling resolution is <70 years) that allowed the Sicily Channel environmental changes to be examined in great detail over the last 12 ka BP. We focused on the species Florisphaera profunda that lives in the lower photic zone. Its distribution pattern shows repeated abundance fluctuations of …

The response of calcareous nannoplankton to sea surface variability at Ceara Rise during the early Pleistocene glacial-interglacial cycles

The Ceara Rise lies just beyond the edge of the Amazon River Fan and sediments from this site may record the complex interplay of different climatic systems and processes, including past changes in southern America monsoon activity, Intertropical Convergence Zone setting, different Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) strength and phytoplankton blooming triggered by Amazon River plumes. Here we investigate early Pleistocene calcareous nannoplankton at Ceara Rise, between about 1150 and 850 kiloyears ago. Our investigation shows abrupt variations in water column dynamics across glacial/interglacial cycles or, even better, linked with different AMOC modes. Dominant placoliths in…

Millenial-scale paleoenviromental changes in the central Mediterranean during the Last Interglacial: comparison with European and North Atlantic records.

Abstract The environment of the central Mediterranean Sea is investigated on the basis of high-resolution planktonic foraminifera and calcareous nannofossil data (mean sampling resolutions of about 80 and 160 yr, respectively). MIS 5 is characterized by warm, oligotrophic and stratified waters, while coccolithophore communities developed a vertical zonation that, in today's oceans, is typical of the low-latitude gyres. The temperate-subtropical configuration of planktonic foraminifera and calcareous nannofossil assemblages is repeatedly transformed into a temperate-subpolar one during the suborbital cooling episodes C25-C18. A comparison with European pollen sequences and North Atlantic cor…

Response of calcareous nannofossils to late Quaternary orbital and suborbital climate changes: Evidence from central Mediterranean and Iberian Margin records.

Suborbital climate variability during Marine Isotopic Stage 5 in the central Mediterranean basin: evidence from calcareous plankton record

Abstract New faunal and floral records from Ocean Drilling Project Hole 963A, resolved at ∼80-year spacing, provide evidence of suborbital scale climate variability in the central Mediterranean Sea throughout Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5. Cold events in the central Mediterranean Sea, indicated by low abundances of warm species and high abundances of cold species, are also evident in a planktonic foraminifera paleoclimatic curve. They have been linked to NGRIP Greenland ice core “C” events and appear correlative with similar sub-millennial climate fluctuations identified in the North Atlantic region and in the Alboran Basin (Westernmost Mediterranean). Low-resolution benthic and planktonic O…

The Messinian-Pliocene boundary in the north Italy regions

HOLOCENE MARINE SEDIMENTS IN THE HISTORICAL CENTRE OF PALERMO

Geoeventi in Sicilia. La Storia geologica dell’area centro-mediterranea raccontata dai geositi, testimoni del tempo.

HIGH-RESOLUTION PALAEONVIRONMENTAL RECONSTRUCTION OF ODP HOLE 963D (SICILY CHANNEL) DURING THE LAST DEGLACIATION BASED ON CALCAREOUS NANNOFOSSILS

Abstract A palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Hole 963D (Sicily Channel) has been obtained on the basis of quantitative abundance fluctuations in the calcareous nannofossil assemblages. The studied hole is characterized by a very high sedimentary resolution and covers the last ca. 20 kyr. A new palaeoclimatic curve, based on the Gephyrocapsa muellerae/Upper Photic Zone (UPZ) group ratio, permitted the detection of the rapid climatic fluctuations that characterized the last deglaciation. Cold water masses occupied the Sicily Channel during the glacial period and the Younger Dryas, whereas they were generally warm during the Bolling–Allerod and the Holocene. An…

A multidisciplinary approach to reveal the Sicily Climate and Environment over the last 20 000 years

Abstract We present a thorough review of the knowledge on the climate and environment in Sicily over the last 20 000 years, taking into account results of several studies carried using terrestrial and marine records. We obtain a coherent framework of the most important changes succeeded in the island, even if some points need further investigation. All the reconstructions of surface temperatures of the seas and the air surrounding Sicily point out severe climatic conditions during the last glacial period. The steppe- and semisteppe-like vegetation pattern testifies, together with additional evidence from geochemical data of lacustrine evidence, markedly arid conditions. Fi-nally, significan…

Calcareous Nannofossil and Planktonic Foraminifera Biostratigraphy of selected Piacenzian-Gelasian Laminites from Southern Italy

Here we present the biostratigraphic and chronostratigraphic framework of a number of selected diatomaceous laminated intervals from the Crotone Basin (Calabria, Southern Italy). These layers, which we consider correlative to the Eastern Mediterranean Sapropel Layers, range in age from the early Piacenzian to the Gelasian, and show surprising thicknesses, suggesting that they were probably laid down in a landlocked, overfed basin. Specifically, a thick laminite from the surroundings of Cropani (Catanzaro) can be ascribed to nannofossil biozone MNN 16a and planktonic foraminifera biozone MPL 4b (lower Piacenzian) according to the Mediterranean calcareous plankton biostratigraphic zonations. …

High-resolution integrated stratigraphy in the Middle Miocene Upper Globigerina Limestone and Blue Clay Formations (Malta Island)

Final Report of the Oceanographic Survey NextData201. Project NEXTDATA WP-1.5 : Paleoclimatic Data from Marine Sediments

The retrieval of series of proxy data on the past climate will serve to acquire a deeper understanding of the climate system and a more accurate prediction of its future development, as a priority task for the scientific community. In particular, the analysis of climate data of the past is an essential tool for studying the dynamics of the earth's climatic system in conditions different from present ones, and irreplaceable for testing the validity of medium- and long-term forecasting models. The determination of the influence of anthropogenic impacts on the planet’s environment is predicated on a clear understanding of the natural ways in which the earth's climate responds to the complex se…

Mediterranean circulation perturbations over the last five centuries: Relevance to past Eastern Mediterranean Transient-type events

The Eastern Mediterranean Transient (EMT) occurred in the Aegean Sea from 1988 to 1995 and is the most significant intermediate-to-deep Mediterranean overturning perturbation reported by instrumental records. The EMT was likely caused by accumulation of high salinity waters in the Levantine and enhanced heat loss in the Aegean Sea, coupled with surface water freshening in the Sicily Channel. It is still unknown whether similar transients occurred in the past and, if so, what their forcing processes were. In this study, sediments from the Sicily Channel document surface water freshening (SCFR) at 1910 ± 12, 1812 ± 18, 1725 ± 25 and 1580 ± 30 CE. A regional ocean hindcast links SCFR to enhanc…

Calcareous nannofossil and planktonic foraminifera biostratigraphy of selected Pliocene and Pleistocene laminites from Southern Italy.

Climate/ocean dynamics of the Central Mediterranean basin during Marine Isotope Stages 3-4

Middle-late Pleistocene eastern Mediterranean nutricline depth and coccolith preservation linked to Monsoon activity and Atlantic meridional overturning circulation

Altres ajuts: Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-M; Universidade de Vigo's programme to attract excellent research talent (RR04092017) The eastern Mediterranean Sea lies under the influence of high- and low-latitude climatic systems. The northern part of the basin is affected by Atlantic depressions and continental and polar air masses that promote intermediate and deep-water formation. The southern part is influenced by subtropical conditions and monsoon activity. Monsoon intensification results in enhanced freshwater discharge from the Nile River and other (now dry) systems along the North African margin. This freshwater influx into the Mediterranean Sea reduces surface w…

Ambiente e clima della Sicilia durante gli ultimi 20 mila anni

Environment and Climate in Sicily over the last 20, 000 years. (IT ISSN 0394-3356, 2010). A series of recent studies shed light on the central Mediterranean, and Sicily, climate and environment, starting from the last glacial maximum (about 20 ka cal BP). In the present paper, we examine most of these works, in order to unravel environmental changes of the past, mainly in terms of temperature, atmospheric pattern, precipitation, vegetation and faunal associations. The climate of the last glacial maximum was characterised by very low temperature and by repeated northerlies penetration, even during summer. Low precipitation values led to a steppe- or semisteppe-like vegetation pattern, domina…

Foglio 607 Corleone

Coccolithophores in Water Samples and Fossil Assemblages in Sedimentary Archives of the Mediterranean Sea: A Review

Centennial- to millennial-scale climate oscillations in the Central-Eastern Mediterranean between 20,000 and 70,000 years ago: evidence from a high-resolution geochemical and micropaleontological record

Millennial-scale paleoenvironmental changes in the central Mediterranean during the Last Interglacial: comparison with European and Mediterranean records

Biostratigraphy, Chronostratigraphy and Paleonvironmental Reconstruction of the Palermo Historical Centre Quaternary succession

Marine deposits from the Palermo Plain were historically relevant for the Quaternary Period definition. Here we show lithostratigraphic, biostratigraphic and chronostratigraphic data collected on three boreholes in the Palermo historical centre that recovered 36.8, 42.0 and 52.0 metres of sediments overlaying the Numidian Flysch. Marine sedimentary sequences span from the Calabrian Stage (calcareous nannofossil Zone MNN 19d) to the Middle Pleistocene (dominance of medium-sized gephyrocapsids within the MNN 19f Zone) and also include a short Holocene depositional event. Calcareous nannofossil, benthic and planktonic foraminifera assemblages point to a shallow coastal environment, possibly < …

High-frequency modification of the central Mediterranean seafloor environment over the last 74 ka

Here we present a high-resolution record of benthic foraminiferal assemblages for the last 74 kyr from the Sicily Channel Ocean Drilling Program Leg 160 Site 963. Benthic foraminiferal results are compared with geochemical (benthic and planktic δ18O and δ13C) and calcareous plankton data, previously acquired on the same marine core sediments. Within the succession, three benthic foraminifera compositional zones were defined. Temporal changes in the assemblages are interpreted in the context of the modification of subtropical and temperate climate systems that affected the Mediterranean thermohaline circulation. A close connection between bottom conditions in the Sicily Channel and eastern M…

Palaeoecological remarks on calcareous nannofossils in Core LC07 (central Mediterranean Sea)during the Late Quaternary: a multidisciplinary investigation

Calcareous Nannofossil Biostratigraphy of the Central Mediterranean Basin during the last 430 000 years

Quantitative analyses on over 2300 samples were carried ut on late Quaternary calcareous nannofossil assemblages from a central Mediterranean Sea sedimentary sequence (ODP Site 963A). Our results indicate that Emiliania huxleyi dominated the assemblages between 0 and 45.7 kyr BP; Gephyrocapsa muellerae between 45.7 and 177.3 kyr BP; small Gephyrocapsa between 177.3 and 263.5 kyr BP; Gephyrocapsa caribbeanica from 263.5 kyr BP down to the basal sample of our investigation, at about 430 kyr BP A comparison with similar reports from Atlantic Ocean sites indicates that the boundaries of the acme intervals identified in this study fall within the same Marine Isotopic Stages as the Atlantic Ocean…

Primary productivity variability on the Atlantic Iberian Margin over the last 70,000 years: evidence from coccolithophores and fossil organic compounds

This study analyzes coccolithophore abundance fluctuations (e.g., Emiliania huxleyi, Gephyrocapsa specimens, and Florisphaera profunda) in core MD01-2444 sediment strata retrieved at the Iberian Margin, northeastern Atlantic Ocean. Coccolithophores are calcareous nannofossils, a major component of the oceanic phytoplankton, which provide information about past ecological and climatological variability. Results are supported by data on fossil organic compounds (sea surface temperatures, alkenones, and n-hexacosan-1-ol index) and geochemical analyses (benthic δ13Ccc and planktonic δ18Occ isotopes). Three scenarios are taken into account for this location at centennial-scale resolution over th…

Foglio 619, Santa Margherita di Belice

Calcareous nannofossil palaeoenvironmental reconstruction and preservation in sapropel S1 at the Eratosthenes Seamount (Eastern Mediterranean)

Abstract The most recent organic carbon-enriched layer (sapropel S1) deposited at the Eratosthenes Seamount has unique features, such as an early lithological interruption, fine light silt laminae and an exceptional vertical extent that is over 25 cm thick. Here we investigate calcareous nannofossil assemblages to reconstruct very high-resolution palaeoenvironmental and palaeoceanographic variations recorded before, during and after the perturbation episode that involved the eastern Mediterranean Sea, due to the massive freshwater discharge via Nile River. Our results show that the deep chlorophyll maximum development, observed in all micropalaeontological groups from previous studies, is a…

Living Coccolithophores from the Gulf of Sirte (Southern Mediterranean Sea) during the summer of 2008

The Gulf of Sirte is a largely unexplored area in the southernmost Mediterranean Sea.We are presenting here 2008 summer data on the distribution pattern of living coccolithophores, a main phytoplankton calcifying group, in 105 samples from 20 stations. The survey includes coastal and offshore stations, enabling us to provide indications on the dynamics of phytoplankton productivity in relation to oceanographic processes. The total coccosphere concentrations show higher values in the offshore stations and lower ones for coastal sites. Umbellosphaera tenuis, Emiliania huxleyi, Florisphaera profunda, Syracosphaera pulchra HOL (Calyptrosphaera oblonga) and Rhabdosphaera spp. dominate the assemb…

Late Quaternary palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of sediment drift accumulation in the Malta Graben (central Mediterranean Sea)

The Malta Graben is a deep tectonic depression in the Sicily Channel, bounded by NW-SE normal faults and filled by thick Pliocene-Quaternary deposits. A previous analysis of a giant piston core (LC09) from the Malta Graben had revealed a wide range of sedimentary features (carbonate turbidites, bioturbated mud and scours), although the chronostratigraphic constraint of the stacking pattern has remained elusive. After establishing a reliable chronological framework based on seven radiocarbon dates for a shorter core from the Malta Graben (ANSIC03-735), a down-core analysis of planktonic foraminifer and coccolith abundance, stable isotopes and sediment grain size was carried out. Since the la…

Fogli 609-596, Termini Imerese-Capo Plaia

Il Servizio Geologico Nazionale ha unificato i Fogli 609 "Termini Imerese" e 596 "Capo Plaia" in un unico Foglio denominato 609/596 "Termini Imerese-Capo Plaia" allo scopo di uniformare i rilievi e raccoglierne la descrizione in un unico volume delle Note Illustrative. Il Foglio 609/596 "Termini Imerese-Capo Plaia" della Carta Geologica d’Italia in scala 1:50.000 è stato realizzato nell’ambito del Progetto CARG con i fondi della Legge 67/88 - Legge 226/99 con una convenzione tra Servizio Geologico Nazionale ora ISPRA) e Regione Siciliana. Le aree ricadono interamente nella Provincia di Palermo, comprendono la fascia marina del Golfo di Termini Imerese fino al promontorio di Capo Plaia, la r…

Understanding Paleomagnetic Rotations in Sicily: Thrust Versus Strike-Slip Tectonics

The paleomagnetic investigation of the western Sicily Maghrebian belt has revealed since the 1970s that large clockwise rotations up to 140° with respect to the Hyblean-African foreland occurred synchronous with Tertiary shortening of the chain. The observation that rotations decrease stepwise from internal to external tectono-stratigraphic units led in the 1990s to a widely accepted model postulating that rotational thrust-sheet emplaced during forward orogenic propagation. More recently, other authors suggested that clockwise rotations from Sicily are conversely the result of late orogenic dextral strike-slip tectonics. Here we report on a paleomagnetic investigation of 30 Jurassic-Eocene…

Implicazioni cronostratigrafiche sui depositi plio-pleistocenici della Sicilia e del suo offshore nel quadro del Progetto CARG

Geoeventi in Sicilia

A high-resolution record of the last deglaciation in the Sicily Channel based on foraminifera and calcareous nannofossil quantitative distribution

Abstract Relative abundance fluctuations in planktic foraminiferal and calcareous nannofossil assemblages are reported on the basis of a high-resolution study of ODP Leg 160 Hole 963D, drilled in the Sicily Strait, near Capo Rossello (southern Sicily). With its 8 m of undisturbed sediments, the core covers the interval from 1.5 to 23 kyr, allowing a 50–100-yr sampling resolution. All the short warm and cold events and sub-events recorded in this time interval in the GRIP Greenland ice core and at several Mediterranean sites were recognized. On this basis, a total number of nine ecozones based on planktic foraminifera and seven ecozones based on calcareous nannofossils were identified. A sho…

Calcareous Nannofossil Assemblages from the Central Mediterranean over the last Four Centuries.

Centennial- to millennial-scale climate oscillations in the Central-Eastern Mediterranean Sea between 20,000 and 70,000 years ago: Evidence from a high-resolution geochemical and micropaleontological record

Abstract Here we present a high-resolution faunal, floral and geochemical (stable isotopes and trace elements) record from the sediments of Ocean Drilling Program Site 963 (central Mediterranean basin), which shows centennial/millennial-scale resemblance to the high-northern latitude rapid temperature fluctuations documented in the Greenland ice cores between 20 and 70 kyr BP. Oxygen and carbon isotopes, planktic foraminifera and calcareous nannofossil distributions suggest that Dansgaard–Oeschger (D/O) and Heinrich events (HE) are distinctly expressed in the Mediterranean climate record. Moreover, recurrent though subdued oscillations not previously identified in the Lateglacial Mediterran…

Orbital variations in planktonic foraminifera assemblages from the Ionian Sea during the Middle Pleistocene Transition

Abstract The Middle Pleistocene Transition (1.2–0.7 Ma) is the most recent re-organization of the global climate system which includes variations in the frequency and amplitude of glacial/interglacial cycles, increased ice sheet volume, sea surface temperature cooling and a significant drop in the CO 2 atmospheric levels. Here we present high-resolution planktonic foraminifera data (mean sampling resolution of about 780 years) from core LC10 recovered in the Ionian Sea (eastern Mediterranean), between 1.2 and 0.9 Ma. Selected taxa, among them G. ruber , T. quinqueloba and G. bulloides , show significant periodicities that can be associated to orbital cycles, mainly precession and obliquity.…

Ten Years of Paleoceanographic Studies at ODP Site 963 (Central Mediterranean Sea)

The geographical location, the shape and the circulation pattern makes the Mediterranean Sea an ideal laboratory to study the interplay between different climatic systems, abrupt climate changes and the response of marine ecosystems. The Ocean Drilling Program Site 963 was drilled in the Northwestern part of the Sicily Channel, the sill that divides the western from the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Numerous papers have been published on Site 963 sediments in the last decade, investigating Mediterranean paleoceanographic themes. Here we offer a synthetic framework of these investigations carried out by sub-centennial resolution. We present the whole sequence of suborbital climatic oscillations…

Calcareous plankton Biostratigraphy and Chronostratigraphy of selected Pliocene and Pleistocene laminites from Southern Italy

Climate oscillations and changes in freshwater budget of the central-eastern Mediterranean between 20,000 and 70,000 years ago

Primary productivity variability on the Atlantic Iberian Margin over the last 70,000 years: Evidence from coccolithophores and fossil organic compounds

[1] This study analyzes coccolithophore abundance fluctuations (e.g., Emiliania huxleyi, Gephyrocapsa specimens, and Florisphaera profunda) in core MD01-2444 sediment strata retrieved at the Iberian Margin, northeastern Atlantic Ocean. Coccolithophores are calcareous nannofossils, a major component of the oceanic phytoplankton, which provide information about past ecological and climatological variability. Results are supported by data on fossil organic compounds (sea surface temperatures, alkenones, and n-hexacosan-1-ol index) and geochemical analyses (benthic δ13Ccc and planktonic δ18Occ isotopes). Three scenarios are taken into account for this location at centennial-scale resolution ove…

Eastern Mediterranean Transient-type events over the last five centuries

Carta Geologica d'Italia alla scala 1:50.000 e note illustrative del foglio 594-585 PARTINICO-MONDELLO.

The 594-585 ”Partinico-Mondello” Map Sheet 1:50.000 includes marine and land areas of the topographic map sheet “Partinico” and “Mondello”. The map sheet “Partinico-Mondello” (Palermo Province) covers a part of the Sicily Fold and Thrust Belt (FTB) which has developed along the plate boundary between Africa and Europe in the central Mediterranean. The Sicily FTB links the African Maghrebides to the Calabrian arc and the Southern Apennines. The fTB and its submerged western and northern exten- sions are partly located between the Sardinia block and the Pelagian-Ionian sec- tor, and partly beneath the central southern Tyrrhenian Sea. In this sector of the Mediterranean area, the main compress…

ASTROCHRONOLOGY OF LATE MIDDLE MIOCENE MEDITERRANEAN SECTIONS

Foglio 593, Castellammare del Golfo

Il Foglio 593 “Castellammare del Golfo” della Carta Geologica d’Italia in scala 1:50.000 è stato realizzato nell’ambito del Progetto CARG con i fondi della Legge 305/89, con una convenzione tra Servizio Geologico Nazionale (ora ISPRA) e la Regione Siciliana. Il Foglio “Castellammare del Golfo” ricopre un settore dell’ estremità nordoccidentale della Sicilia e comprende le aree marine del Golfo del Cofano, della Baia di San Vito e della porzione centro-occidentale del Golfo di Castellammare, e quelle emerse costituite dalla dorsale dei Monti di Capo San Vito, dall’ampio settore collinare di Monte Luziano e Monte Bosco, dal massiccio di Monte Inici e dai pianori della Piana di Castellammare, …

Carta geologica d'italia alla scala 1:50.000 e note illustrative del foglio 595_Palermo

The Map Sheet 1:50.000 595 ”Palermo” includes marine and land areas of the topographic map sheet “Palermo”. The map sheet “Palermo” (Palermo Province) covers a part of the Sicily Fold and Thrust Belt (FTB) which has developed along the plate boundary between Africa and Europe in the Central Mediterranean. The Sicily FTB links the African Maghrebide to the Calabrian arc and Southern Apennines. The FTB and its submerged western and northern extensions are part- ly located between the Sardinia block and the Pelagian-Ionian sector, and partly beneath the central southern Tyrrhenian Sea. In this sector of the Mediterranean area, the main compressional move- ments, after the Paleogene Alpine orog…

Holocene millennial-scale productivity variations in the Sicily Channel (Mediterranean Sea)

This study analyzes coccolithophore abundance fluctuations (e.g., Emiliania huxleyi, Gephyrocapsa specimens, and Florisphaera profunda) in core MD01-2444 sediment strata retrieved at the Iberian Margin, northeastern Atlantic Ocean. Coccolithophores are calcareous nannofossils, a major component of the oceanic phytoplankton, which provide information about past ecological and climatological variability. Results are supported by data on fossil organic compounds (sea surface temperatures, alkenones, and n-hexacosan-1-ol index) and geochemical analyses (benthic ?13Ccc and planktonic ?18Occ isotopes). Three scenarios are taken into account for this location at centennial-scale resolution over th…

Productivity modes in the Mediterranean Sea during Dansgaard–Oeschger (20,000–70,000 yr ago) oscillations

The study of planktonic organisms during abrupt climatic variations of the last glacial period (Dansgaard-Oeschger oscillations, D-O) may reveal important insights on climatic, oceanographic and biological interactions. Here we present planktic foraminifera and coccolithophore data collected at the Ocean Drilling Program Site 963 (Sicily Channel), with a mean sampling resolution of respectively 43.5 and 98.9. yr, over the interval between 70,000 and 20,000. yr ago. The paleoenvironmental reconstruction suggests that three different scenarios can be seen across each D-O cycle: 1. oligotrophic surface water and a deep thermocline for the early Interstadials; 2. a Deep Chlorophyll Maximum and …

Correlation between eastern Mediterranean and Greenland climate oscillations of the past 62,000 years

Understanding paleomagnetic rotations in Sicily: Thrust vs. transpressive structures

Since the 1970s, paleomagnetic data collected in Sicily have documented large magnitude clockwise (CW) rotations around vertical axis with respect to Africa and the Hyblean foreland. Many Authors argued that rotations arise from rotational thrusting of large coherent nappes coinciding with paleogeographic units. In the forward thrust propagation process, each nappe rotates the overlying nappe stack. This would explain the stepwise decrease of rotation magnitudes from the internal Panormide unit (90°-140°) to the external Saccense unit, yielding no rotation. However, other Authors later proposed that rotations of Sicily are the consequence of dextral shear occurring since late Miocene times …

An integrated investigation for core GMS-93/3, NW Sicily offshore (Southern Tyrrhenian Sea): high-resolution seasmic profiles and calcareous plankton biostratigraphy

CONSIDERATIONS ON CALCAREOUS NANNOFOSSIL QUANTITATIVE DISTRIBUTION IN CORE LC07 (CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN SEA) DURING THE LATE QUATERNARY

Core description collected during Oceanographic Survey NextData2013 (12 – 19 September 2013)

Mediterranean coccolith ecobiostratigraphy since the penultimate Glacial (the last 145,000years) and ecobioevent traceability

The Mediterranean Sea is a miniature ocean ideal to test the response of marine ecosystems to amplified orbital and suborbital climate changes. Here we present coccolith data from a Sardinia Channel gravity core (Arcose C_33) analysed over the last 145,000 years, with a mean resolution of about 900 years. The study highlights that regional phytoplankton assemblages underwent significant modifications between the penultimate glacial and the last interglacial, as well as between the last glacial and the Holocene. The N ratio palaeoproductivity index suggests reduced productivity levels and the development of a deep nutricline during the last interglacial and the Holocene. Within the last glac…

Late Quaternary high uplift rates in northeastern Sicily: evidence from calcareous nannofossils and benthic and planktonic foraminifera

The northeastern part of Sicily is characterized by intense seismic activity. Several systems of faults have been recognized in Pliocene and Pleistocene sediments in the area and, in fact, estimates of uplift rates are among the highest recorded in Sicily and south Italy. We examined calcareous nannofossil and benthic and planktonic foraminifera assemblages from pelitic sediments of the Contrada Zura section (Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto Basin, Furnari village, Messina). The occurrence of Emiliania huxleyi, a coccolithophore species which appeared in the oceanic record about 270,000 years ago, is witness to the uniqueness of this outcrop, while the planktonic/benthic foraminifera ratio indicat…

The barren Messinian Tripoli in Sicily and its palaeoenvironmental evolution: suggestions on the exploration potential

New observations on the Sicily Messinian Tripoli have yielded a variably thick diatomitic, calcareous and shaly rock interval marked by an upwards disappearance of calcareous and siliceous plankton (barren lithosome), coexisting with a variability in vegetal remains and significant amounts of amorphous organic matter (AOM). Facies analysis associated with biostratigraphy and palaeoecology of the several field and borehole sections has been framed in a well-accepted chronological scheme that points to this barren interval coinciding with the stratigraphic upper and younger part of some Tripoli sections (bituminous Tripoli) located in the northern part of the study area. Biostratigraphically,…

The Calabrian Stage redefined

The name Calabrian was introduced in the geological literature by the French stratigrapher Maurice Gignoux in 1910, and later described in his important monograph (633 pages) "Les formations marines pliocènes et quaternaires de l'Italie du sud et de la Sicile" published in 1913. Detailed data were provided on several sections (Santa Maria di Catanzaro, Caraffa, Monasterace, Palermo) and on their fossil content. The Calabrian Stage has commonly been used for over fifty years as the oldest subdivision of the Quaternary, notably in the time scales of Berggren & van Couvering (1974) and Haq & Eysinga (1987). However, after the GSSP for the Pliocene/Pleistocene boundary (P/P) was approved by INQ…

Calcareous Nannofossil Biostratigraphy and Chronostratigraphy of ODP Hole 964D (eastern Mediterranean Sea)

Quantitative analyses of calcareous nannofossil were carried out on sediments from ODP Hole 964D succession, recovered in the Ionian Sea, Eastern Mediterranean. Results show that the sedimentary sequence, spanning from about 3.5 Ma (Early Pliocene) to the Present, has been investigated through an average sampling resolution of less than 30 kyr. The detailed subdivision into 11 biozones makes it possible to recognize chronostratigraphic the boundaries in the Early Pliocene-Middle Pleistocene interval. Finally, two sedimentary gaps, lasting at least 340 kyr and 120 kyr respectively, have been recognized between the Zanclean and Piacenzian and in the lower part of the Early Pleistocene. SHORT …

Size variations in the genus Gephyrocapsa during the Early Plaeistocene in the eastern Mediterranean

The genus Gephyrocapsa, belonging to coccolithophores, hasoften been used in biostratigraphic and paleoceanographic studies ofthe late Cenozoic. This taxon exhibits a gradual increase in sizeduring the Early Pleistocene which has been ascribed to evolutiveand/or environmental processes and has been used for biostratigraphicpurposes.Here we show both biometric and relative abundance data ofspecimens of this genus between about 2.0 and 0.9 Ma, from sedimentsof the Ionian Sea (eastern Mediterranean). Measurements onthe long axis of placoliths highlight a gradual size increase betweenthe upper part of MNN 19a and the top of MNN 19d biozones. Onthe basis of the comparison with paleoenvironmental…

First data on oceanography, phytoplankton density and nutrient distribution of the western Libyan sea area (August, 2006)

Mediterranean calcareous plankton stratigraphy of the last 10 kyr

Integrated micropaleontological and stratigraphical study of the Late Quaternary Arcose C_33 core (offshore SW Sardinia)

Planktonic foraminifera in ODP Hole 160-963A

New faunal and floral records from Ocean Drilling Project Hole 963A, resolved at ?80-year spacing, provide evidence of suborbital scale climate variability in the central Mediterranean Sea throughout Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5. Cold events in the central Mediterranean Sea, indicated by low abundances of warm species and high abundances of cold species, are also evident in a planktonic foraminifera paleoclimatic curve. They have been linked to NGRIP Greenland ice core “C” events and appear correlative with similar sub-millennial climate fluctuations identified in the North Atlantic region and in the Alboran Basin (Westernmost Mediterranean). Low-resolution benthic and planktonic Oxygen Iso…

Chemistry of Globigerinoides ruber shells from ODP Site 160-963

Here we present a high-resolution faunal, floral and geochemical (stable isotopes and trace elements) record from the sediments of Ocean Drilling Program Site 963 (central Mediterranean basin), which shows centennial/millennial-scale resemblance to the high-northern latitude rapid temperature fluctuations documented in the Greenland ice cores between 20 and 70 kyr BP. Oxygen and carbon isotopes, planktic foraminifera and calcareous nannofossil distributions suggest that Dansgaard-Oeschger (D/O) and Heinrich events (HE) are distinctly expressed in the Mediterranean climate record. Moreover, recurrent though subdued oscillations not previously identified in the Lateglacial Mediterranean sedim…