6533b827fe1ef96bd128716e
RESEARCH PRODUCT
A stalactite record of four relative sea-level highstands during the Middle Pleistocene Transition
Paolo StocchiFabrizio AntonioliPaolo MontagnaFabrizio PepeValeria Lo PrestiAntonio CarusoMarta CorradinoGino DardanelliPietro RendaNorbert FrankEric DouvilleFrançois ThilBas De BoerRosario RuggieriRosanna SciortinoCatherine PierreSub Dynamics MeteorologyStratigraphy And PaleontologyMarine And Atmospheric Researchsubject
Marine isotope stageArcheology010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciencesSettore GEO/02 - Geologia Stratigrafica E SedimentologicaSettore GEO/03 - Geologia Strutturale010502 geochemistry & geophysics01 natural sciencesSea level changeStable isotopesGlobal and Planetary Changegeography.geographical_feature_categoryEcologyArcheology (arts and humanities)Geology87Sr/86Sr ageSpeleothemStable isotopePleistocene87Sr/86Sr agesOceanographyArchaeology[SDU.STU.CL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/ClimatologySr/Sr agesPaleogeographyCoralsGeologyStalactitePleistoceneEvolutionSpeleothemWestern Europecoastal/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/life_below_water87Sr/86 41 Sr agesPaleontologyInterglacial(s)Behavior and Systematics14. Life underwaterSDG 14 - Life Below Water[SDU.ENVI]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces environmentSea levelEcology Evolution Behavior and Systematics0105 earth and related environmental sciencesU-Th datinggeographyGeomorphologySettore GEO/01 - Paleontologia E PaleoecologiaKarstEcology Evolution Behavior and SystematicSpeleothems87Sr/86Sr ages;Corals;U-Th dating;Pleistocene;Stable isotopes;Western Europe;Interglacial(s);Sea level changes;SpeleothemsSea level changesCoralQuaternaryGlobal and Planetary ChangeSettore ICAR/06 - Topografia E Cartografiadescription
International audience; Ice-sheet and sea-level fluctuations during the Early and Middle Pleistocene are as yet poorly understood. A stalactite from a karst cave in North West Sicily (Italy) provides the first evidence of four marine inundations that correspond to relative sea-level highstands at the time of the Middle Pleistocene Transition. The speleothem is located ∼97 m above mean sea level as result of Quaternary uplift. Its section reveals three marine hiatuses and a coral overgrowth that fixes the age of final marine ingression at 1.124 ± 0.2, thus making this speleothem the oldest stalactite with marine hiatuses ever studied to date. Scleractinian coral species witness light-limited conditions and water depth of 20–50 m. Integrating the coral-constrained depth with the geologically constrained uplift rate and an ensemble of RSL scenarios, we find that the age of the last marine ingression most likely coincides with Marine Isotope Stage 35 on the basis of a probabilistic assessment. Our findings are consistent with a significant Antarctic ice-sheet retreat.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-10-01 |