The Monte San Nicola section (Sicily) revisited: A potential unit-stratotype of the Gelasian Stage

The Monte San Nicola area (Southern Sicily) offers a spectacular exposure of open-marine sediments that were employed in 1998 for defining the Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) of the Gelasian Stage (Upper Pliocene). After the lowering of the Pliocene/Pleistocene boundary to ca. 2.6 Ma in 2010, the Gelasian GSSP has been redefined as the base of both the Pleistocene Series and the Quaternary Period, which increased its importance and visibility within the scientific community. However, documentation on the Monte San Nicola reference section is still sparse. In the light of its renewed status, we decided to undertake a complete revision of the Gelasian Stage in its type area, in ord…

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

The 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. Orbital-induc…

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