Pleistocene (Calabrian) deep-water corals and associated biodiversity in the eastern Mediterranean (Karpathos Island, Greece)

• Published in: Journal of Quaternary Science
• Main Authors: Moissette, Pierre, Cornee, Jean-Jacques, Quillévéré, F., Zibrowius, Helmut, Koskeridou, Efterpi, Lopez-Otalvaro, Gatsby-Emperatriz
• Other Authors: Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon - Terre, Planètes, Environnement (LGL-TPE), École normale supérieure de Lyon (ENS de Lyon)-Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL), Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Étienne (UJM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Géosciences Montpellier, Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université des Antilles (UA), National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2017
• Subjects: bivalves; bryozoans; buildups; corals; serpulids; [SDU.ENVI]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces; environment; Lophelia pertusa; North East Atlantic
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-01622744; https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.2966

Diversified deep-water corals and associated communities occur in early Pleistocene (early Calabrian; ∼1.7–1.6 Ma) calcareous crusts discovered on the south-western coast of Karpathos Island (eastern Greece). Apart from abundant and conspicuous solitary and colonial corals (12 species), the accompanying fauna comprises mostly bivalves (10 species), serpulid worms (4 species), and bryozoans (40 species). The growth and deposition of the studied organisms occurred in an upper bathyal environment at water depths around 400–600 m. The calculated mean uplift rate after deposition of the crusts indicates that Karpathos was drowned during the earliest Calabrian and experienced severe uplifts by the late Calabrian. A comparison between these communities and those of the Pleistocene to Recent Mediterranean and north-east Atlantic shows that a common stock of taxa exist(ed); among them two azooxanthellate colonial scleractinians (Lophelia pertusa and Madrepora oculata) are predominant.