Centennial- to millennial-scale climate oscillations in the Central-Eastern Mediterranean Sea between 20,000 and 70,000 years ago: evidence from a high-resolution geochemical and micropaleontological record

Oxygen and carbon isotopes, planktic foraminifera and calcareous nannofossil distributions suggest that Dansgaard Oeschger (D/O) and Heinrich events (HE) are distinctly expressed in the Mediterranean climate record. Moreover, recurrent though subdued oscillations not previously identified in the Late-glacial Mediterranean sediments document a significant centennial-scale climate variability in the basin that is greater than previously thought.

Here we present a high-resolution faunal, floral and geochemical (stable isotopes and trace elements) record from the sediments of Ocean Drilling Program Site 963 (central Mediterranean basin), which shows centennial/millennial-scale resemblance to the high-northern latitude rapid temperature fluctuations documented in the Greenland ice cores between 20 and 70 kyr BP.