Calcareous nannofossil assemblages from the Central Mediterranean Sea over the last four centuries: the impact of the little ice age

We present decadal-scale calcareous nannofossil data from four short cores (Station 272, 37°17'N, 12°48E, 226 m depth; St 342, 36°42N, 13°55E, 858.2 m depth; St 407, 36°23N, 14°27E, 345.4 m depth; C90-1M, 40°36N, 14°42E, 103.4 mdepth) recovered in the central Mediterranean Sea (northern Sicily Channel and Tyrrhenian Sea), which, on the basis of 210Pb activity span the last 200-350 years. Assemblages are dominated by placoliths, mostly Emiliania huxleyi, while, at least in the Sicily Channel sediments, Florisphaera profunda was an important part of the coccolithophore community. The paleoenvironmental reconstruction, based on ecological preference of species and groups, suggests that the Tyrrhenian core C90-1M maintained higher productivity levels over recent centuries, with respect to the Sicily Channel sites, possibly because of more pronounced winter phytoplankton blooms, in agreement with modern primary productivity variations over the last ten years. The lowermost part of the record of one of the cores from the Sicily Channel, Station 407, which extends down to 1650 AD, is characterized by drastic changes in productivity. Specifically, below 1850 AD, the decrease in abundance of F. profunda and the increase of placoliths, suggest increased productivity. The chronology of this change is related to the main phase of the Little Ice Age, which might have impacted the hydrography of the southern coast of Sicily and promoted vertical mixing in the water column. The comparison with climatic forcings points out the importance of stronger and prolonged northerlies, together with decreased solar irradiance. The identification of the LIA in the northern Sicily Channel cover the Bond cycle BO that was missing in a previous study of Holocene climatic anomalies in the Sicily Channel. Finally, we suggest that major abundance changes in reworked nannofossil specimens, recorded in the Tyrrhenian core C90-1M, might be linked to variations in terrigenous supply from land. Paradoxically, higher amounts of reworking correspond to dry periods. We argue that soil and rock vulnerability is enhanced during times of prolonged drought and vegetation cover loss.