Marine response to climate changes during the last five millennia in the central Mediterranean Sea

• Published in: Global and Planetary Change
• Main Authors: Margaritelli, G., Vallefuoco, M., Di Rita, F., Capotondi, L., Bellucci, L. G., Insinga, D. D., Petrosino, P., Bonomo, S., Cacho, I., Cascella, Antonio, Ferraro, L., Florindo, Fabio, Lubritto, C., Lurcock, Pontus Conrad, Magri, D., Pelosi, N., Rettori, R., Lirer, F.
• Other Authors: Istituto per l’Ambiente Marino Costiero (IAMC) – Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Calata Porta di Massa, Interno Porto di Napoli, 80133, Napoli, Italy; Dipartimento di Fisica e Geologia – Università di Perugia, Via Alessandro Pascoli 06123 Perugia, Italy, Istituto per l’Ambiente Marino Costiero (IAMC) – Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Calata Porta di Massa, Interno Porto di Napoli, 80133, Napoli, Italy, Dipartimento di Biologia Ambientale Sapienza - Università di Roma, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Roma, Italy, Istituto Scienze Marine, ISMAR– CNR, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Via Gobetti 101 40129 Bologna, Italy, DiSTAR - Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, dell’Ambiente e delle Risorse – Università degli Studi di Napoli “Federico II”. Largo S. Marcellino 10, 80138, Napoli, Italy, GRC Geociències Marines Dept. Estratigrafia, Paleontologia i Geociències Marines. Universitat de Barcelona C/Martí Franques s/n; 08028 Barcelona, Spain, Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Sezione Pisa, Pisa, Italia, Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Sezione AC, Roma, Italia, Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Ambientali Biologiche e Farmaceutiche (DiSTABiF), Seconda Università di Napoli, Via Vivaldi 47, Caserta, Italy, Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Sezione Roma2, Roma, Italia, Dipartimento di Fisica e Geologia – Università di Perugia, Via Alessandro Pascoli 06123 Perugia, Italy
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: Planktonic foraminifera; Oxygen stable isotope; Pollen; Tephrostratigraphy; Magnetostratigraphy; Tyrrhenian Sea; Mediterranean Sea; reconstruction of last five millennia in the Central Mediterranean; North Atlantic; North Atlantic oscillation
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2122/11506; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2016.04.007

We present a high-resolution paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental reconstruction of the last five millennia from a shallow water marine sedimentary record from the central Tyrrhenian Sea (Gulf of Gaeta) using planktonic foraminifera, pollen, oxygen stable isotope, tephrostratigrapy and magnetostratigrapy. This multiproxy approach allows to evidence and characterize nine time intervals associated with archaeological/cultural periods: Eneolithic (base of the core–ca. 2410 BCE), Early Bronze Age (ca. 2410 BCE–ca. 1900 BCE), Middle Bronze Age–Iron Age (ca. 1900 BCE–ca. 500 BCE), Roman Period (ca. 500 BCE–ca. 550 CE), Dark Age (ca. 550 CE–ca. 860 CE), Medieval Climate Anomaly (ca. 860 CE–ca. 1250 CE), Little Ice Age (ca. 1250 CE–ca. 1850 CE), Industrial Period (ca. 1850 CE–ca. 1950 CE), Modern Warm Period (ca. 1950 CE–present day). The reconstructed climatic evolution in the investigated sedimentary succession is coherent with the short-term climate variability documented at the Mediterranean scale. By integrating the planktonic foraminiferal turnover from carnivorous to herbivorous–opportunistic species, the oxygen isotope record and the pollen distribution, we document important modification from the onset of the Roman Period to the present-day. From ca. 500 CE upwards the documentation of the cooling trend punctuated by climate variability at secular scale evidenced by the short-term δ18O is very detailed. We hypothesise that the present day warm conditions started from the end of cold Maunder event. Additionally, we provide that the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) directly affected the central Mediterranean region during the investigated time interval. Published 53-72 5A. Paleoclima e ricerche polari JCR Journal