A stratigraphically controlled multiproxy chronostratigraphy for the eastern Mediterranean

Abstract

[1] An Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) 14 C dated multiparameter event stratigraphy is developed for the Aegean Sea on the basis of highly resolved (centimeter to subcentimeter) multiproxy data collected from four late glacial to Holocene sediment cores. We quantify the degree of proportionality and synchroneity of sediment accumulation in these cores and use this framework to optimize the confidence levels in regional marine, radiocarbon-based chronostratigraphies. The applicability of the framework to published, lower-resolution records from the Aegean Sea is assessed. Next this is extended into the wider eastern Mediterranean, using new and previously published high-resolution data from the northern Levantine and Adriatic cores. We determine that the magnitude of uncertainties in the intercore comparison of AMS 14 C datings based on planktonic foraminifera in the eastern Mediterranean is of the order of ±240 years (2 SE). These uncertainties are attributed to synsedimentary and postsedimentary processes that affect the materials dated. This study also offers a background age control that allows for vital refinements to radiocarbon-based chronostratigraphy in the eastern Mediterranean, with the potential for similar frameworks to be developed for any other well-studied region.

Millennial-scale variability in Red Sea circulation in response to Holocene insolation forcing

“…The alignment resulted in age deviation outside the 2 σ range for two radiocarbon dates (deviation from the mean calibrated ages: 519 yrs in KL9 and 221 yrs in KL17 VL) (Table 1), whereas the remaining 13 AMS radiocarbon ages could be aligned within their 2 σ calibrated age range. This approach is similar to that of Casford et al [2007] in the eastern Mediterranean, where it has been shown that age uncertainties of individual AMS radiocarbon datings could amount to more than 1000 a, while the resulting mean offsets from a comprehensive age model were comparable to those found in our alignment. The resulting age model (Figure 4 and Table 1) spans 11.75 ka for KL17 VL (supported by the sapropel correlation with the well‐dated core GeoB 5844‐2 [ Arz et al , 2003a, 2003b]; Figure 3) and 10.6 ka for KL9 with the peak faunal transient around 2.4 ka BP, coinciding within age uncertainties to results of Edelman‐Furstenberg et al [2009].…”

Late Quaternary paleoenvironmental reconstruction and paleoclimatic implications of the Aegean Sea (eastern Mediterranean) based on paleoceanographic indexes and stable isotopes

“…2A). Detailed investigations of the S1 occurrence in these cores have been reported earlier (Casford et al, 2007;Kontakiotis et al, 2009Kontakiotis et al, , 2013Triantaphyllou et al, 2009a,b;Kontakiotis, 2012;Kouli et al, 2012). In NS-14, the most recent Z2 Santorini ash layer is positioned at 17 cm depth, and a sapropel-like, dark olive grey mud layer (Sapropel Mid Holocene e SMH) is deposited between 25 and 40 cm (Triantaphyllou et al, 2009a,b; (Fig.…”

“…For the age model of SK-1 core, bio-stratigraphic control also provides two well-dated correlation horizons, the biozone I/II and II/III boundaries of Jorissen et al (1993), which are useful chronologic standards for dating late Quaternary sequences in the central and eastern Mediterranean (including the Aegean Sea e Zachariasse et al, 1997;Casford et al, 2002;Geraga et al, 2010) due to their Mediterranean-wide applicability and synchroneity Hayes et al, 1999;Casford et al, 2001). Both age models previously published by Triantaphyllou et al (2009b) and Casford et al (2007) respectively have been tested against the multi-proxy chronological framework proposed by Casford et al (2007) for a generous number of sediment cores from the Aegean Sea. The ages in this study are given in calibrated ka BP.…”

“…The higher sedimentation rates reported for the marginal basin of the Aegean Sea (e.g. Zachariasse et al, 1997;Geraga et al, 2000Geraga et al, , 2005Casford et al, 2007;Triantaphyllou et al, 2009a,b;Drinia et al, 2014) compared to the more oceanic sites of the Mediterranean Sea, in conjunction with the remoteness of this basin from the foci of monsoon-sourced freshwater injections during intervals of sapropel deposition allow detailed records of change to be preserved, and facilitate the assessment of basin-integrated paleoceanographic responses. Given that the Aegean Sea is one of the most oligotrophic areas of the global ocean system , much interest is centered on the north and south Aegean sub-basins, because they present a clear southern trend towards an oligotrophy gradient, expressed in all biochemical parameters of the euphotic zone .…”

Warfare in Late Neolithic\Early Chalcolithic Pisidia, southwestern Turkey. Climate induced social unrest in the late 7th millennium calBC

“…The duration of the first of these is well established at 5 to 6 centuries (Mercone et al 2000;Casford et al 2007), and it evidently forms part of a repeating RCC pattern during the Holocene. The GISP2 data ( Fig.…”