Holocene climate variability in the North-Western Mediterranean Sea (Gulf of Lions)

Type Article
Date 2016
Language English
Author(s) Jalali B.1, 2, Sicre M. -A.2, Bassetti M. -A.3, Kallel N.1
Affiliation(s) 1 : Univ Sfax, GEOGLOB, Fac Sci Sfax, Route Soukra Km 4-BP802, Sfax 3038, Tunisia.
2 : Univ Paris 06, Univ Paris 04, CNRS IRD MNHN, LOCEAN Lab, 4 Pl Jussieu, F-75005 Paris, France.
3 : Univ Perpignan, CEFREM, Ave J-P Alduy, F-66860 Perpignan, France.
Source Climate Of The Past (1814-9324) (Copernicus Gesellschaft Mbh), 2016 , Vol. 12 , N. 1 , P. 91-101
DOI 10.5194/cp-12-91-2016
WOS© Times Cited 53
Note Special issue Human–land–sea interactions in the Mediterranean Basin: a Holocene perspective Editor(s): M.-A. Sicre, J. Guiot, L. Carozza, N. Combourieu Nebout, B. Martrat, and M.-F. Loutre
Abstract Sea surface temperatures (SSTs) and land-derived input time series were generated from the Gulf of Lions inner-shelf sediments (NW Mediterranean Sea) using alkenones and high-molecular-weight odd-carbon numbered n-alkanes (TERR-alkanes), respectively. The SST record depicts three main phases: a warm Early Holocene ( ∼  18 ± 0.4  °C) followed by a cooling of  ∼  3  °C between 7000 and 1000 BP, and rapid warming from  ∼  1850 AD onwards. Several superimposed multi-decadal to centennial-scale cold events of  ∼  1  °C amplitude were also identified. TERR-alkanes were quantified in the same sedimentary horizons to identify periods of high Rhone River discharge and compare them with regional flood reconstructions. Concentrations show a broad increase from the Early Holocene towards the present with a pronounced minimum around 2500 BP and large fluctuations during the Late Holocene. Comparison with Holocene flood activity reconstructions across the Alps region suggests that sediments of the inner shelf originate mainly from the Upper Rhone River catchment basin and that they are primarily delivered during positive North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO).
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