The 4.2 ka BP Event in the Mediterranean region: an overview

International audience The Mediterranean region and the Levant have returned some of the clearest evidence of a climatically dry period occurring around 4200 years ago. However, some regional evidence is controversial and contradictory, and issues remain regarding timing, progression, and regional a...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Climate of the Past
Main Authors: Bini, Monica, Zanchetta, Giovanni, Perşoiu, Aurel, Cartier, Rosine, Catalá, Albert, Cacho, Isabel, Dean, Jonathan, Di Rita, Federico, Drysdale, Russell, Finnè, Martin, Isola, Ilaria, Jalali, Bassem, Lirer, Fabrizio, Magri, Donatella, Masi, Alessia, Marks, Leszek, Mercuri, Anna Maria, Peyron, Odile, Sadori, Laura, Sicre, Marie-Alexandrine, Welc, Fabian, Zielhofer, Christoph, Brisset, Elodie
Other Authors: Dipartimiento di Scienze della Terra, University of Pisa - Università di Pisa, Institut méditerranéen de biodiversité et d'écologie marine et continentale (IMBE), Avignon Université (AU)-Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Institut de recherche pour le développement IRD : UMR237-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Departament de Dinàmica de la Terra i de l’Oceà Barcelona, Universitat de Barcelona (UB), University of Hull United Kingdom, Dipartimento di biologia ambientale, Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza" = Sapienza University Rome (UNIROMA), University of Melbourne, Uppsala Universitet Uppsala, Stockholm University, Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia – Sezione di Pisa (INGV), Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (LOCEAN), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité), Istituto Ambiente Marino Costiero, National Research Council of Italy, Laboratorio di Palinologia e Paleobotanica, Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier (UMR ISEM), Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (Cirad)-École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Institut de recherche pour le développement IRD : UR226-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Variabilité de l'Océan et de la Glace de mer (VOG), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University (UKSW), Leipzig University / Universität Leipzig
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: HAL CCSD 2019
Subjects:
Online Access:https://insu.hal.science/insu-02104912
https://insu.hal.science/insu-02104912/document
https://insu.hal.science/insu-02104912/file/Bini%20et%20al.,%202019.pdf
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-555-2019
Description
Summary:International audience The Mediterranean region and the Levant have returned some of the clearest evidence of a climatically dry period occurring around 4200 years ago. However, some regional evidence is controversial and contradictory, and issues remain regarding timing, progression, and regional ar-ticulation of this event. In this paper, we review the evidence from selected proxies (sea-surface temperature, precipitation , and temperature reconstructed from pollen, δ 18 O on speleothems, and δ 18 O on lacustrine carbonate) over the Mediterranean Basin to infer possible regional climate patterns during the interval between 4.3 and 3.8 ka. The values and limitations of these proxies are discussed, and their potential for furnishing information on seasonality is also explored. Despite the chronological uncertainties, which are the main limitations for disentangling details of the climatic conditions , the data suggest that winter over the Mediterranean involved drier conditions, in addition to already dry summers. However, some exceptions to this prevail-where wetter conditions seem to have persisted-suggesting regional heterogeneity in climate patterns. Temperature data, even if sparse, also suggest a cooling anomaly, even if this is not uniform. The most common paradigm to interpret the precipitation regime in the Mediterranean-a North Atlantic Oscillation-like pattern-is not completely satisfactory to interpret the selected data.