CNR ExploRA

Articolo in rivista, 2020, ENG, 10.1016/j.marmicro.2020.101921

Globorotalia truncatulinoides in Central - Western Mediterranean Sea during the Little Ice Age

Giulia Margaritelli a, Fabrizio Lirer b, Katrin Schroeder c, Alberico Ines b, Maria Paola Dentici d, Antonio Caruso d

a Istituto di ricerca per la Protezione Idrogeologica - Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, via della Madonna Alta 126, 06128 Perugia, Italy b Istituto di Scienze Marine - Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Calata Porta Di Massa - Porto Di Napoli 80, 80133 Napoli, Italy c Istituto di Scienze Marine - Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Arsenale - Tesa 104, Castello 2737/F, 30122 Venezia, Italy d Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e del Mare, Università degli Studi di Palermo, via Archirafi 20-22, 90123 Palermo, Italy

Globorotalia truncatulinoides oscillations have been recorded from different marine sediment cores collected in the central and western Mediterranean Sea. The abundances of this species over the last 500 yrs. demonstrates its potential value as bio-indicator of particular oceanographic condition during the Maunder Minimum (MM) event of the Little Ice Age (LIA). The comparison between the G. truncatulinoides abundance patterns of the Balearic Basin, central and south Tyrrhenian Sea and central and eastern Sicily Channel allows to highlight a similar response of this species during the MM event in the central-western Mediterranean Sea. The ecological meanings of this species and its peculiar high abundance percentages in the total assemblages suggest the development of enhanced vertical mixing conditions during MM winter season with a strong advection of nutrients from the nutrient-rich deeper layers and enhances the productivity levels in the mixed layer. The intensified vertical mixing could be linked to persistence of an atmospheric blocking event recorded by several authors during the MM.

Marine micropaleontology (Print)