A 500 kyr record of global sea-level oscillations in the Gulf of Lion, Mediterranean Sea: new insights into MIS 3 sea-level variability

Borehole PRGL1-4 drilled in the upper slope of the Gulf of Lion provides an exceptional record to investigate the impact of late Pleistocene orbitally-driven glacio-eustatic sea-level oscillations on the sedimentary outbuilding of a river fed continental margin. High-resolution grain-size and geoche...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Climate of the Past
Main Authors: J. Frigola, M. Canals, I. Cacho, A. Moreno, F. J. Sierro, J. A. Flores, S. Berné, G. Jouet, B. Dennielou, G. Herrera, C. Pasqual, J. O. Grimalt, M. Galavazi, R. Schneider
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Copernicus Publications 2012
Subjects:
Environmental pollution
TD172-193.5
Environmental protection
TD169-171.8
Environmental sciences
GE1-350
Greenland
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-8-1067-2012
https://doaj.org/article/087ef2465c374510b4a51be2619580a4
Description
Summary:Borehole PRGL1-4 drilled in the upper slope of the Gulf of Lion provides an exceptional record to investigate the impact of late Pleistocene orbitally-driven glacio-eustatic sea-level oscillations on the sedimentary outbuilding of a river fed continental margin. High-resolution grain-size and geochemical records supported by oxygen isotope chronostratigraphy allow reinterpreting the last 500 ka upper slope seismostratigraphy of the Gulf of Lion. Five main sequences, stacked during the sea-level lowering phases of the last five glacial-interglacial 100-kyr cycles, form the upper stratigraphic outbuilding of the continental margin. The high sensitivity of the grain-size record down the borehole to sea-level oscillations can be explained by the great width of the Gulf of Lion continental shelf. Sea level driven changes in accommodation space over the shelf cyclically modified the depositional mode of the entire margin. PRGL1-4 data also illustrate the imprint of sea-level oscillations at millennial time-scale, as shown for Marine Isotopic Stage 3, and provide unambiguous evidence of relative high sea-levels at the onset of each Dansgaard-Oeschger Greenland warm interstadial. The PRGL1-4 grain-size record represents the first evidence for a one-to-one coupling of millennial time-scale sea-level oscillations associated with each Dansgaard-Oeschger cycle.

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