PALAEOCLIMATIC AND PALAEOCEANOGRAPHIC EVOLUTION OF THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA OVER THE LAST 18KA
Published:
Jan 1, 2010
Keywords:
plantkonic foraminifera spline analysis palaeoceanographic variability late postglacial Mediterranean Sea
Abstract
he aim of the present study is the reconstruction of the palaeoclimatic and palaeoceanographic evaluation of the Mediterranean Sea over the last 18ka based on the distribution of the planktonic foraminifera species. Planktonic foraminifera species have been proven excellent indicators of the palaeoclimatic and palaeoceanographic variability. The data set of the present study consists of the variability in the abundances of planktonic foraminifera species as has been reported and published in previous studies, after the examination of marine sediments from cores selected all over the Mediterranean Sea. The evolution in the abundance of each planktonic species is examined on a time interval spacing of 1000years suggesting implications for the palaeoclimatic and palaeoceanographic evolution of the Mediterranean Sea for the same time sampling interval (1000yrs). The most pronounced results of this study suggest that: (i) the increase in surface temperature during the warm intervals always follow a decreasing trend from eastern to western areas, (ii) the eutrophication of the Mediterranean Sea in most of the time exhibits a decreasing trend from northern to southern areas, and (iii) during the Holocene two cool spells (at around 8ka and 4ka) seems that had affected the majority of the Mediterranean region.
Article Details
- How to Cite
-
Thomopoulos, K., Geraga, M., Fakiris, E., Papatheodorou, G., & Ferentinos, G. (2010). PALAEOCLIMATIC AND PALAEOCEANOGRAPHIC EVOLUTION OF THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA OVER THE LAST 18KA. Bulletin of the Geological Society of Greece, 43(2), 1064–1073. https://doi.org/10.12681/bgsg.11271
- Section
- Marine Geology and Oceanography
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g. post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (preferably in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
References
Aksu, A.E., Yasar, D., Mudie, P.J., 1995. Late glacial-Holocene paleoclimatic and paleoceanographic
evolution of the Aegean Sea: micropaleontological and stable isotopic evidences, Marine Micropaleontology
, l-28.
Aksu, A.E., Hiscott, R.N., Kaminski, M.A., Mudie, P.T., Gillespie, H., Abrajano, T., Yasar, D., 2002. Last
glacial - Holocene paleoceanography of the Black Sea and Marmara Sea: stable isotopic, foraminiferal
and coccolith evidence, Marine Geology 190, 119-149.
Ariztegui, D., Asioli, A., Lowe, J.J., Trincardi, F., Vigliotti, L., Tamburini, F., Chondrogianni, C., Accorsi,
C.A., Bandini Mazzanti, M., Mercuri, A.M., Van der Kaars, S., McKenzie, J.A., Oldfield, F.,
Palaeoclimate and the formation of sapropel S1:inferences from Late Quaternary lacustrine
and marine sequences in the central Mediterranean region, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology,
Palaeoecology, 158, 215-240.
Bond, G., Showers, W., Cheseby, M., Lotti, R., Almasi, P., de Menocal, P., Priore, P., Cullen, H., Hadjas,
I., Bonani, G., 1997. A pervasive millennial scale cycle in North Atlantic Holocene and glacial climates,
Science 278, 1257-1266.
Buckley, H.A., Johnson, L.R., Shackleton, N.J., Blow, R.A., 1982. Late glacial to recent sediment cores
from the eastern Mediterranean, Deep-Sea Research 29, 739–766.
Casford, J.S.L., Rohling, E.J., Abu-Zied, R., Cooke, S., Fontanier, C., Leng, M., Lykousis, V., 2002. Circulation
changes and nutrient concentrations in the late Quaternary Aegean Sea: a nonsteady state
concept for sapropel formation, Paleoceanography, 17, 1024-1034.
Casford, J.S.L., Rohling, E.J., Abu-Zied, R.H., Fontanier, C., Jorissen, F.G., Leng, M.G., Schmiedl, G.,
Thomson, J. 2003. A dynamic concept for eastern Mediterranean circulation and oxygenation during
sapropel formation, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 190, 103-119.
Capotondi, L., Borsetti, A.M., Morigi, C., 1999. Foraminiferal ecozones, a high resolution proxy for the
late Quaternary biochronology in the central Mediterranean Sea, Marine Geology, 153, 253-274.
Cita, M.B., Vergnaud-Grazzini, C., Robert, C., Chamley, H., Ciaranfi, N., D’Onofrio, S., 1977. Palaeoclimatic
record of a long deep sea core from the eastern Mediterranean, Quaternary Research 8, 205–235.
De Rijk, S., Hayes, A., Rohling, E.J., 1999. Eastern Mediterranean sapropel S1 interruption:an expression
of the onset of climatic deterioration around 7 ka BP, Marine Geology, 153, 337-343.
Emeis, K.C., Struck, U., Schulz, H.M., Rosenberg, R., Bernasconi, S., Erlenkeuser, H., Sakamoto, T.,
Martinez-Ruiz, F., 2000. Temperature and salinity variations of Mediterranean Sea surface waters
over the last 16,000 years from records of planktonic stable oxygen isotopes and alkenone unsaturation
ratios, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 158, 259-280.
Fritsch, F.N., and Carlson, R.E., 1980. Monotone Piecewise Cubic Interpolation, SIAM J. Numerical
analysis. 17, 238-246
Geraga, M., Tsaila-Monopoli, St., Ioakim, Ch., Papatheodorou, G., Ferentinos, G. 2000. An evaluation of
XLIII, No 2 – 1071
paleoenvironmental changes during the last 18000yrs BP in the Myrtoon Basin, S.W. Aegean Sea,
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 156, 1–17.
Geraga, M., Tsaila-Monopoli, St., Ioakim, Ch., Papatheodorou, G., Ferentinos, G. 2005. Short-term climate
changes in the southern Aegean Sea over the last 48000 years, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology,
Palaeoecology, 220, 311– 332.
Geraga, M., Mylona, G., Tsaila-Monopolis, St., Papatheodorou, G., Ferentinos, G., 2004. Micropaleonological
study of the core sediment Z1 from the Ionian Sea, Proceedings of the 10th International
Congress, Thessaloniki, April 2004, Bulletin of the Geological Society of Greece, 245-253 (in Greek).
Geraga, M, Ioakim, Chr, Lykousis, V., Tsaila-Monopolis, St, Mylona, G. 2010. The high-resolution palaeoclimatic
and palaeoceanographic history of the last 24,000 years in the central Aegean Sea, Greece,
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 287, 101–115.
Hayes, A., Rohling, E.J., De Rijk, S., Kroon, D., Zachariasse, W.J., 1999. Mediterranean planktonic
foraminiferal faunas during the last glacial cycle, Marine Geology, 153, 239–252.
Jorissen, F.J., Asioli, A., Borsetti, A.M., Capotondi, L., De Visser, J.P., Hilgen, F.J., Rohling, E.J., Van der
Borg, K., Vergnaud-Grazzini, C., Zachariasse, W.J. 1993. Late Quaternary central Mediterranean
biochronology, Marine Micropaleontology, 21, 169–189.
Kahaner D, Moler, C., Nash, S., 1989. Numerical Methods and Software, Upper Saddle River, NJ, USA,
Prentice-Hall Inc, 495pp.
Olausson, E., 1991.Carbon and oxygen isotope composition of foraminifera in two cores from the Bannock
Basin area, eastern Mediterranean, Marine Geology, 100, 45-51.
Oldfield, F., Asioli, A., Accorsi, C.A., Mercuri, A.M., Juggins, S., Langone, L., Rolph, T., Trincardi, F.,
Wolff, G., Gibbs, F., Vigliotti, L., Frignani, M., Van der Pos, K., Branch, N. 2003. A high resolution
late Holocene palaeo environmental record from the central Adriatic Sea, Quaternary Science Reviews,
, 319–342.
Principato, M.S., Giunta, S., Corselli, C., Negri, A., 2003. Late Pleistocene/Holocene planktonic assemblages
in three box-cores from the Mediterranean Ridge area (W-SW of Crete): paleoecological and
paleoceanographic reconstruction of sapropel S1 interval, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology,
Palaeoecology, 190, 61–77.
Principato, M.S., Crudeli, D., Ziveri, P., Slomp, C.P., Corselli, C., Erba, E., De Lange, G.J. 2006. Phytoand
zooplankton paleofluxes during the deposition of sapropel S1 (eastern Mediterranean): Biogenic
carbonate preservation and paleoecological implications, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology,
Palaeoecology, 235, 8 –27.
Pujol, C., and Vergnaud Grazzini, C., 1995. Distribution patterns of live planktic foraminifers as related to
regional hydrography and productive systems of the Mediterranean Sea, Marine Micropaleontology 25,
-217.
Reimer, P., 2000. Marine reservoir correction database. www Page, http://calib.qub.ac.uk/marine/
Rohling, E.J., Gieskes, W.W.C., 1989. Late Quaternary changes in Mediterranean Intermediate Water
density and formation. Paleoceanography, 4, 531-545.
Rohling, E.J., Jorissen, F.J., Vergnaud-Grazzini, C., Zachariasse, W.J., 1993. Northern Levantine and
Adriatic Quaternary planktic foraminifera; reconstruction of paleoenvironmental gradients, Marine
Micropaleontology, 21, 191–218.
Sangiorgi, F., Capotondi, L., Combourieu Nebout, N., Viglioti, L., Brinkhuis, H., Giunta, S., Lotter, A., Morigi,
C., Negri, A., Reichart, G. 2003. Holocene seasonal sea-surface temperature variations in the southern
Adriatic Sea inferred from a multiproxy approach, Journal of Quaternary Science, 18, 723-732.
Sbaffi, L., Wezel, F.C., Curzi, G., Zoppi, U. 2004. Millenial to centennial scale paleoclimatic variations
XLIII, No 2 – 1072
during Termination I and the Holocene in the central Mediterranean sea, Global and Planetary
Change, 40, 201-217.
Sperling, M., Schmiedl, G., Hemleben, Ch., Emeis, K.C., Erlenkeuser, H., Grootes, P.M. 2003. Black
Sea impact on the formation of eastern Mediterranean sapropel S1? Evidence from the Marmara Sea,
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 190, 9-21.
Stuiver, M. and Reimer, P.J., 1993. Extended 14C database and revised CALIB radiocarbon program. Radiocarbon,
, 215-230.
Thunell, R.C. 1978. Distribution of recent planktonic foraminifera in surface sediments of the Mediterranean
Sea, Marine Micropaleontology, 3, 147–173.
Triantaphyllou, M.V., Antonarakou, A., Kouli, K., Dimiza, M., Kontakiotis, G., Ziveri, P., Mortyn, G.,
Lykousis, V., Dermitzakis, M.D. 2007. Plankton ecostratigrafy and pollen assemblage zones over the
last 14000 years in SE Aegean Sea. (core NS-14).Proceedings of the 11th International Congress,
Athens, May 2007, Bulletin of the Geological Society of Greece, 209-224.
Triantaphyllou, M. V., Antonarakou, A., Kouli, K., Dimiza, M., Kontakiotis, G., Papanikolaou, M., Ziveri,
P., Mortyn, P.G., Lianou, V., Lykousis, V., Dermitzakis, M. D. 2009. Late Glacial-Holocene ecostratigraphy
of the south-eastern Aegean Sea, based on plankton and pollen assemblages. Geo-Marine
Letters, 29, 249-267.
Vergnaud-Grazzini, C., Borsetti, A.M., Cati, F., Colantoni, P., D’onofrio, S., Saliege, J.F., Sartory, R.,
Tampiery, R. 1988. Paleoceanographic record of the last deglaciation in the strait of Sicily. Marine
Micropaleontology, 13, 1-21.
Zachariasse, W.J., Jorissen, F.J., Perissoratis, C., Rohling, E.J., Tsapralis, V. 1997. Late quaternary
foraminiferal changes and the nature of sapropel S1 in skopelos basin. Proceedings 5th Hellenic symposium
on Oceanography and Fisheries, Kavalla, Greece, Vol. 1, 391-394.
