Climatic cycles as expressed in sediments of the PROMESS1 borehole PRAD1-2, central Adriatic, for the last 370 ka: 1. Integrated stratigraphy

[1] A multiproxy integrated chronological framework, based on oxygen and carbon stable isotopestratigraphy, biostratigraphy (foraminifera and nannoplankton bioevents and foraminifer assemblage-basedclimate cyclicity), magnetostratigraphy, sapropel stratigraphy, and 14C AMS radiometric dates, has beenachieved for borehole PRAD1-2, collected in 185.5 m water depth in the central Adriatic. This work wascarried out within the European Community project Profiles across Mediterranean Sedimentary Systems(PROMESS1). The 71.2 m long borehole spans a time interval between late MIS 11 and MIS 1 (the last370 ka), showing a chronological resolution of 500 and 250 years per cm during interglacial and glacialintervals, respectively. At present, this record is the most expanded and continuous marine record availablefor the Adriatic Basin. Several orbital cycles can be recognized in the PRAD1-2 record: the 100 ka glacialinterglacialfluctuations and the 23 ka precession-related cycles, which in turn control the deposition ofsapropel layers. An integrated analysis of short-term oscillations within the Last Glaciation interval (MIS 4-MIS 2) allowed the identification of the Adriatic signature of Dansgaard-Oeschger events,showing the potential to achieve a more refined chronostratigraphic framework for the top part of thePRAD1-2 record. Finally, the age model obtained by this study allowed the chronological integration ofthe main foraminifera bioevents detected in the borehole as well as of the volcanoclastic layers present inthe upper part of the record. Despite its proximal location, PRAD1-2 presents a continuous record andshows the potential to be consistently correlated both with deep-sea and continental records in theMediterranean region and beyond.