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Paleoclimatic Record of a Long Deep Sea Core from the Eastern Mediterranean

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Maria Bianca Cita ,
Colette Vergnaud-Grazzini ,
Christian Robert ,
Hervé Chamley ,
Neri Ciaranfi  and
Sara d'Onofrio
Maria Bianca Cita
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Paleontology, University of Milano, Milano, Italy
Colette Vergnaud-Grazzini
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Géologie Dynamique, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France
Christian Robert
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Géologie Marine, Université d' Aix-Marseille II, Marseille, France
Hervé Chamley
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Géologie Marine, Université d' Aix-Marseille II, Marseille, France
Neri Ciaranfi
Affiliation:
Institute of Geology, University of Bari, Bari, Italy
Sara d'Onofrio
Affiliation:
Institute of Geology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
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Abstract

A deep-sea core over 16 m long from the crestal area of the Mediterranean Ridge has been investigated with different techniques, including quantitative micropaleontology, stable isotopes (measured on the epipelagic species Globigerinoides ruber and on the mesopelagic species Globorotalia inflata), and clay mineralogy. The resulting record of climatic fluctuations can be cross correlated to other Mediterranean cores by means of isochronous lithologies (tephra layers and sapropels). The climatic record of the Mediterranean is similar in character, phase, and chronology to the records investigated in the equatorial Pacific and in the Caribbean. Isotope stages 1 to 17 have been recognized. Cyclically repeated stagnant cycles resulting in sapropel deposition complicate both the isotopic and the faunal signal. The isotopic investigations reveal that the temperature change in the surface layers of the eastern Mediterranean was no greater than 8°C in the late “glacial” Pleistocene. The chronostratigraphic and biostratigraphic interpretation of Core KS09 indicate that the mean sedimentation rate was 2.4 cm/1000 years, a value very close to the 2.5 cm/1000 years calculated for the entire Quaternary section at DSDP Site 125, also located in the crestal area of the Mediterranean Ridge in the Ionian Basin. The base of KS09 is likely to be very close to the Brunhes/Matuyama boundary dated at 0.7 my.

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Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 8 , Issue 2 , September 1977 , pp. 205 - 235
Copyright
University of Washington

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