Abstract
In core ADE3-23 collected in the Libyan Sea, the nannofossil species Coccolithus pelagicus, Coronosphaera spp., Helicosphaera spp., Syracosphaera spp., Calcidiscus spp., small Gephyrocapsa spp., and the planktonic foraminifers Globigerina bulloides, Neogloboquadrina pachyderma, Globorotalia scitula, Turborotalita quinqueloba and Neogloboquadrina dutertrei prevail in sapropel S6 (midpoint at 172 ka b.p.), indicative of cold and highly productive surface conditions. Warm and highly stratified water-column conditions are recorded by the characteristic assemblage of Globigerinoides ruber, Globoturborotalita rubescens, Florisphaera profunda, Rhabdosphaera spp. during the sapropel S5 depositional interval (midpoint at 124 ka b.p.). Compared with S5, Globigerinita glutinata, Globorotalia inflata, Globigerinella siphonifera, Globorotalia truncatulinoides and the calcareous nannofossil Emiliania huxleyi characterise less stratified conditions within sapropel S1 (midpoint at 8.5 ka b.p.). Multivariate statistical analyses of calcareous nannofossil and planktonic foraminifers in core ADE3-23 identify planktonic assemblages which typify sapropels S6, S5 and S1 in the Libyan Sea. A warmer interval is recognised in the middle part of the cold S6, and can be associated with an influx of less saline waters and the occurrence of a faint, temporary deep chlorophyll maximum. Evidence for enhanced surface productivity and breakdown of stratification is observed in the middle–upper part of the warm S5, associated with climatic deterioration. Moreover, an increase in surface productivity in the upper S1 implies weak stratification. Our combined calcareous nannofossil and planktonic foraminiferal data add to the evidence that climate variability was more pronounced than commonly considered to date for all the three studied Eastern Mediterranean sapropel depositional intervals.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
B é AWH, Tolderlund DS (1971) Distribution and ecology of living planktonic foraminifera in surface waters of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In: Funnell BM, Riedel WR (eds) Micropaleontology of the oceans. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 105–150
Bethoux JP, Gentili B, Morin P, Nicolas E, Pierre C, Ruiz-Pino D (1999) The Mediterranean Sea: a miniature ocean for climatic and environmental studies and a key for the climatic functioning of the North Atlantic. Prog Oceanogr 44:131–146
Cach ão M, Moita MT (2000) Coccolithus pelagicus, as a productivity proxy related to moderate fronts off Western Iberia. Mar Micropaleontol 39:131–155
Cane T, Rohling EJ, Kemp AES, Cooke S, Pearce RB (2002) High-resolution stratigraphic framework for Mediterranean sapropel S5: defining temporal relationships between records of Eemian climate variability. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 183:87–101
Capotondi L, Borsetti A, Morigi C (1999) Foraminiferal ecozones, a high resolution proxy for the late Quaternary biochronology in the central Mediterranean Sea. Mar Geol 153:253–274
Capotondi L, Principato MS, Morigi C, Sangiorgi F, Maffioli P, Giunta S, Negri A, Corselli C (2006) Foraminiferal variations and stratigraphic implications to the deposition of sapropel S5 in the Eastern Mediterranean. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 235:48–65
Casford JSL, Rohling EJ, Abu-Zied RH, Fontanier C, Jorissen FJ, Leng MJ, Schmiedl G, Thomson J (2003) A dynamic concept for Eastern Mediterranean circulation and oxygenation during sapropel formation. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 190:103–119
Castradori D (1993a) Calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy and biochronology in Eastern Mediterranean deep-sea cores. Riv Ital Paleontol Stratigr 99:107–126
Castradori D (1993b) Calcareous nannofossil and the origin of Eastern Mediterranean sapropels. Paleoceanography 8:459–471
Cita MB, Vergnaud Grazzini C, Robert C, Chamley H, Ciaranfi N, d’Onofrio S (1977) Paleoclimatic record of a long deep sea core from the Eastern Mediterranean. Quat Res 8:205–235
Colmenero-Hidalgo E, Flores JA, Sierro FJ, B árcena M Á, L öwemark L, Sch önfeld J, Grimalt JO (2004) Ocean surface water response to short-term climate changes revealed by coccolithophores from the Gulf of Cadiz (NE Atlantic) and Alboran Sea (W Mediterranean). Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 205:317–336
Corselli C, Principato MS, Maffioli P, Crudeli D (2002) Changes in planktonic assemblages during sapropel S5 deposition: evidence from Urania Basin area, Eastern Mediterranean. Paleoceanography 17(3):1–30. doi:10.1029/2000PA000536
Crudeli D, Young JR, Erba E, de Lange GJ, Henriksen K, Kinkel H, Slomp CP, Ziveri P (2004) Abnormal carbonate diagenesis in Holocene–late Pleistocene sapropel-associated sediments from the Eastern Mediterranean; evidence from Emiliania huxleyi coccolith morphology. Mar Micropaleontol 52:217–240
Crudeli D, Yong JR, Erba E, Geisen M, Ziveri P, de Lange GJ, Slomp CP (2006) Fossil record of holococcoliths and selected hetero-holococcolith associations from the Mediterranean (Holocene–late Pleistocene): evaluation of carbonate diagenesis and palaeoecological–palaeoceanographic implications. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 237:191–212
de Lange GJ, van Santvoort PJM, Langereis C, Thomson J, Corselli C, Michard A, Rossignol-Strick M, Paterne M, Anastasakis G (1999) Palaeo-environmental variations in Eastern Mediterranean sediments: a multidisciplinary approach in a prehistoric setting. Prog Oceanogr 44:369–386
De Rijk S, Hayes A, Rohling EJ (1999) Eastern Mediterranean sapropel S1 interruption: an expression of the onset of climatic deterioration around 7 ka BP. Mar Geol 153:337–343
Emeis KC, Struck U, Schulz HM, Rosenberg R, Bernasconi S, Erlenkeuser H, Sakamoto T, Martinez-Ruiz F (2000a) 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. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 158:259–280
Emeis KC, Sakamoto T, Wehausen R, Brumsack HJ (2000b) The sapropel record of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea—results of Ocean Drilling Program Leg 160. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 158:371–395
Emeis KC, Schultz HM, Struck U, Rossignol-Strick M, Erlenkeusen H, Howell M, Kroon D, Mackensen A, Ishizuka S, Oba T, Sakamoto T, Koizumi I (2003) Eastern Mediterranean surface water temperatures and δ18O composition during deposition of sapropels in the late Quaternary. Paleoceanography 18(1):1–18
Fairbanks RG, Sverdlove M, Free R, Wiebe PH, B é AWH (1982) Vertical distribution of living planktonic foraminifera from the Panama basin. Nature 298:841–844
Flores JA, Sierro FJ, Franc és G, V ázquez A, Zamarreňo I (1997) The last 100, 000 years in the western Mediterranean: sea surface water and frontal dynamics as revealed by coccolithophores. Mar Micropaleontol 29:351–366
Gasse F (2000) Hydrological changes in the African tropics since the last glacial maximum. Quat Sci Rev 19:189–211
Geraga M, St T-M, Ch I, Papatheodorou G, Ferentinos G (2000) An evaluation of paleoenvironmental changes during the last 18000 yrs BP in the Myrtoon Basin, S.W. Aegean Sea. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 156:1–17
Geraga M, St T-M, Ch I, Papatheodorou G, Ferentinos G (2005) Short-term climate changes in the southern Aegean Sea over the last 48.000 years. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 220:311–332
Giunta S, Negri A, Morigi C, Capotondi L, Combourieu-Nebout N, Emeis KC, Sangiorgi F, Vigliotti L (2003) Coccolithophorid ecostratigraphy and multi-proxy paleoceanographic reconstruction in the Southern Adriatic Sea during the last deglacial time (Core AD91–17). Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 190:39–59
Giunta S, Negri A, Maffioli P, Sangiorgi F, Capotondi L, Morigi C, Principato MS, Corselli C (2006) Phytoplankton dynamics in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea during Marine Isotopic Stage 5e. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 235(1/3):28–47
Gogou A, Bouloubassi I, Lykousis V, Arnaboldi M, Gaitani P, Meyers PA (2007) Organic geochemical evidence of abrupt late glacial-Holocene climate changes in the North Aegean Sea. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 256:1–20
Gourgiotis A (2003) Sedimentology and geochemistry of recent sediments in Eastern Mediterranean. Department of Marine Sciences, University of the Aegean, Mytilene, Diploma
Gourgiotis A (2004) Etude g éochimique du Saprop èle S5 de M éditerran ée orientale: une approche radiochimique. Serait-il possible que les saprop èles soient des indicateurs des grands év ènements sismiques? DEA Oc éanologie M ét éorologie et Environnement, Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement, CNRS-CEA, Universit é P. et M. Curie Paris IV
Hemleben C, Spindler M, Anderson OR (1989) Modern planktonic foraminifera. Springer, Berlin, pp 1–363
Incarbona A (2007) Paleoceanografia del Canale di Sicilia (Mediterraneo Centrale) durante gli ultimi 350 mila anni, rivelata dalle associazioni a nannofossili calcarei. PhD Thesis, Universit à degli Studi di Palermo, pp 1–127
Incarbona A, Bonomo S, Di Stefano E, Zgozi S, Essarbout N, Talha M, Tranchida G, Bonanno A, Patti B, Placenti F, Buscaino G, Cuttitta A, Basilone G, Bahri T, Massa F, Censi P, Mazzola S (2008a) Calcareous nannofossil surface sediment assemblages from the Sicily Channel (central Mediterranean Sea): palaeoceanographic implications. Mar Micropaleontol 67:297–309
Incarbona A, Di Stefano E, Sprovieri R, Bonomo S, Censi P, Dinar ès-Turell J, Spoto S (2008b) Variability in the vertical structure of the water column and paleoproductivity reconstruction in the central-western Mediterranean during the Late Pleistocene. Mar Micropaleontol 67:26–41
Karageorgis AP, Gardner WD, Georgopoulos D, Mishonov AV, Krasakopoulou E, Anagnostou C (2008) Particle dynamics in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea: a synthesis based on light transmission, PMC, and POC archives (1991–2001). Deep-Sea Res 55:177–202
Knappertsbusch M (1993) Geographic distribution of living and Holocene coccolithophores in the Mediterranean Sea. Mar Micropaleontol 21:219–247
Lourens LJ (2004) Revised tuning of Ocean drilling Program Site 964 and KC01B (Mediterranean) and implication for the δ18O, tephra, calcareous nannofossil, and geomagnetic chronologies of the past 1.1 Myr. Paleoceanography 19 PA3010. doi:10.1029/2003PA000997
Lourens LJ, Hilgen FJ, Gudjonsson L, Zachariasse WJ (1992) Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene astronomically forced sea surface productivity and temperature variations in the Mediterranean. Mar Micropaleontol 19:49–78
Malanotte-Rizzoli P, Manca BB, Ribera d’Alcal à M, Theocharis A, Bergamasco A, Bregant D, Budillon G, Civitarese G, Georgopoulos D, Michelato A, Sansone E, Scarazzato P, Souvermezoglou E (1997) A synthesis of the Ionian Sea hydrography, circulation and water mass pathways during POEM-Phase I. Prog Oceanogr 39:153–204
Marino G (2008) Paleoceanography of the interglacial Eastern Mediterranean Sea. LPP Foundation, Utrecht, Contr Ser 24
Martinson DG, Pisias NG, Hays JD, Imbrie J, Moore TC, Shackleton NJ (1987) Age dating and the orbital theory of the ice ages; development of a high resolution 0 to 300, 000-year chronostratigraphy. Quat Res 27:1–29
Molfino B, McIntyre A (1990) Precessional forcing of nutricline dynamics in the Equatorial Atlantic. Science 249:766–769
Negri A, Giunta S (2001) Calcareous nannofossil paleoecology in the sapropel S1 of the Eastern Ionian sea: paleoceanographic implications. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 169:101–112
Negri A, Capotondi L, Keller J (1999) Calcareous nannofossils, planktonik foraminifera and oxygen isotopes in the late Quaternary sapropels of the Ionian Sea. Mar Geol 157:89–103
Okada H, Honjo S (1973) The distribution of ocean coccolithophorids in the Pacific. Deep-Sea Res 20:355–374
Pinardi N, Masetti E (2000) Variability of the large scale general circulation of the Mediterranean Sea from observations and modelling: a review. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 158:153–173
POEM Group (1992) General circulation of the Eastern Mediterranean. Earth-Sci Rev 32:285–309
Principato M, Giunta S, Corselli C, Negri A (2003) Late Pleistocene-Holocene planktonic assemblages in three box-cores from the Mediterranean Ridge area (west-southwest of Crete): paleoecological and paleoceanographic reconstruction of sapropel S1 interval. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 190:61–77
Principato M, Crudeli D, Ziveri P, Slomp CP, Corselli C, Erba E, de Lange GJ (2006) Phyto- and zooplankton paleofluxes during the deposition of sapropel S1 (Eastern Mediterranean): biogenic carbonate preservation and paleoecological implications. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 235:8–27
Psarra S, Tselepides A, Ignatiades L (2000) Primary productivity in the oligotrophic Cretan Sea (NE Mediterranean): seasonal and interannual variability. Prog Oceanogr 46:187–204
Pujol C, Vergnaud Grazzini C (1995) Distribution patterns of live planktic foraminifers as relate to regional hydrography and productive systems of the Mediterranean Sea. Mar Micropaleontol 25:187–217
Raffi I, Rio D (1980) Coccolithus pelagicus (Wallich): a paleotemperature indicator in the Late Pliocene Mediterranean deep sea record. Quaderno 1:176–179
Rio D, Fornaciari E, Raffi I (1990) Late Oligocene through early Pleistocene calcareous nannofossils from the western equatorial Indian Ocean (Leg 115). Proc Sci Results ODP Leg 115, Mascarene Plateau. ODP, College Station, TX, pp 175–235
Rohling EJ, Gieskes WWC (1989) Late Quaternary changes in the Mediterranean intermediate water density and formation rate. Paleoceanography 4:531–545
Rohling EJ, Hilgen FJ (1991) The Eastern Mediterranean climate at times of sapropel formation: a review. Geol Mijnb 70:253–264
Rohling EJ, Jorissen FJ, Vergnaud Grazzini C, Zachariasse WJ (1993) Northern Levantine and Adriatic quaternary planktic foraminifera; reconstruction of paleoenvironmental gradients. Mar Micropaleontol 21:191–218
Rohling EJ, Jorissen FJ, de Stigter HC (1997) 200 Year interruption of Holocene sapropel formation in the Adriatic sea. J Micropaleontol 16:97–108
Rohling EJ, Cane TR, Cooke S, Sprovieri M, Bouloubassi I, Emeis KC, Schiebel R, Kroon D, Jorissen FJ, Lorre A, Kemp AES (2002a) African monsoon variability during the previous interglacial maximum. Earth Planet Sci Lett 202:61–75
Rohling EJ, Mayewski PA, Abu-Zied RH, Casford JSL, Hayes A (2002b) Holocene atmosphere–ocean interactions: records from Greenland and the Aegean Sea. Climate Dynamics 18:587–593
Rohling EJ, Sprovieri M, Cane TR, Casford JSL, Cooke S, Bouloubassi I, Emeis KC, Schiebel R, Rogerson M, Hayes A, Jorissen FJ, Kroon D (2004) Reconstructing past planktic foraminiferal habitats using stable isotope data: a case history for Mediterranean sapropel S5. Mar Micropaleontol 50:89–123
Rossignol-Strick M, Paterne M (1999) A synthetic pollen record of the Eastern Mediterranean sapropels of the last 1 Ma: implications for the time-scale and formation of sapropels. Mar Geol 153:221–237
Saji NH, Yamagata T (2003) Indian ocean dipole mode events and African rainfall variability. CLIVAR Exch 27:1–4
Samtleben C, Baumann KH, Schr öder-Ritzrau A (1995) Distribution, composition and seasonal variation of coccolithophore communities in the northern North Atlantic. In: Flores JA, Sierro FJ (eds) Proc 5th Int Nannoplankton Association Conf. Universidad de Salamanca, Salamanca, pp 219–235
Sangiorgi F, Dinelli E, Maffioli P, Capotondi L, Giunta S, Morigi C, Principato MS, Negri A, Emeis KC, Corselli C (2006) Geochemical and micropaleontological characterisation of a Mediterranean sapropel S5: a case study from core BAN89GC09 (south of Crete). Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 235(1/3):192–207. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2005.09.029
Stratford K, Williams RG, Myers PG (2000) Impact of the circulation on sapropel formation in the Eastern Mediterranean. Global Biogeochem Cycles 14:683–695
Thiede J (1983) Skeletal plankton and nekton in upwelling water masses off northwestern South America and northwestern Africa. In: Suess E, Thiede J (eds) Coastal upwelling: its sedimentary record. Part A. Plenum Press, New York, pp 183–208
Thunell RC, Reynolds LA (1984) Sedimentation of planktonic foraminifera: seasonal changes in species flux in the Panama Basin. Micropaleontology 30(1):47–173
Thunell R, Sautter LR (1992) Planktonic foraminiferal faunal and stable isotope indices of upwelling: a sediment trap study in the San Pedro Basin, South California Bight. In: Summerhayes CP, Prell WL, Emeis KC (eds) Upwelling systems: evolution since the early Miocene. Geol Soc Spec Publ 64:77–91
Toledo FAL, Cachao M, Costa KB, Pivel AAG (2007) Planktonic foraminifera, calcareous nannoplankton and ascidian variations during the last 25 kyr in the Southwestern Atlantic: a paleoproductivity signature? Mar Micropaleontol 64:67–79
Triantaphyllou MV, Antonarakou A, Kouli K, Dimiza M, Kontakiotis G, Papanikolaou MD, Ziveri P, Mortyn PG, Lianou V, Lykousis V, Dermitzakis MD (2009) Late Glacial-Holocene ecostratigraphy of the south-eastern Aegean Sea, based on plankton and pollen assemblages. Geo Mar Lett (in press). doi:10.1007/s00367-009-0139-5
Vergnaud-Grazzini C, Ryan WBF, Cita MB (1977) Stable isotopic fractionation, climate change and episodic stagnation in the Eastern Mediterranean during the Late Quaternary. Mar Micropaleontol 2:353–370
Violanti D, Grecchi G, Castradori D (1991) Paleoenvironmental interpretation of core BAN88–11GC (Eastern Mediterranean, Pleistocene–Holocene) on the grounds of foraminifera, thecosomata and calcareous nannofossils. Quaternario 4:13–39
Weldeab S, Emeis KC, Hemleben C, Schmiedl G, Schulz H (2003) Spatial productivity variations during formation of sapropels S5 and S6 in the Mediterranean Sea: evidence from Ba contents. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 191(2):169–190
Winter A, Jordan RW, Roth P (1994) Biogeography of living coccolithophores in oceanic waters. In: Winter A, Siesser WG (eds) Coccolithophores. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 13–27
Young JR (1994) Functions of coccoliths. In: Winter A, Siesser WG (eds) Coccolithophores. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 63–82
Ziveri P, Baumann KH, B öckel B, Bollmann J, Young J (2004) Biogeography of selected coccolithophorids in the Atlantic Ocean, from Holocene sediments. In: Thierstein H, Young J (eds) Coccolithophores: from molecular processes to global impact. Springer, Berlin, pp 403–428
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic supplementary material
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Triantaphyllou, M.V., Antonarakou, A., Dimiza, M. et al. Calcareous nannofossil and planktonic foraminiferal distributional patterns during deposition of sapropels S6, S5 and S1 in the Libyan Sea (Eastern Mediterranean). Geo-Mar Lett 30, 1–13 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00367-009-0145-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00367-009-0145-7