ORCID Profile
0000-0002-7080-9599
Current Organisation
Università degli Studi di Pisa Dipartimento di Economia e Management
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Research Topics
In Research Link Australia (RLA), "Research Topics" refer to ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes. These topics are either sourced from ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes listed in researchers' related grants or generated by a large language model (LLM) based on their publications.
Top 5 Research Topics
ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)
Palaeoclimatology | Quaternary Environments | Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience | Geochronology And Isotope Geochemistry | Geochemistry | Climatology (Incl. Palaeoclimatology)
ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)
Climate and Climate Change not elsewhere classified | Climate change | Climate Change Models | Earth sciences |
Related Links
Publications
Supplementary material to "First tephrostratigraphic results of the DEEP site record from Lake Ohrid, Macedonia"
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 17-09-2015
Early-middle Holocene land snail shell stable isotope record from Grotta di Latronico 3 (southern Italy)
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 23-11-2010
DOI: 10.1002/JQS.1429
Deciphering late Quaternary land snail shell δ18O and δ13C from Franchthi Cave (Argolid, Greece)
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 07-2013
DOI: 10.1016/J.YQRES.2013.03.006
Abstract: This paper investigates the stable isotopic composition from late Pleistocene–Holocene (~ 13 to ~ 10.5 cal ka BP) shells of the land snail Helix figulina , from Franchthi Cave (Greece). It explores the palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental implications of the isotope palaeoecology of archaeological shells at the time of human occupation of the cave. Modern shells from around the cave were also analysed and their isotopic signatures compared with those of the archaeological shells. The carbon isotope composition of modern shells depicts the consumption of C 3 vegetation. Shell oxygen isotopic values are consistent with other Mediterranean snail shells from coastal areas. Combining empirical linear regression and an evaporative model, the δ 18 Os suggest that modern snails in the study area are active during periods of higher relative humidity and lower rainfall δ 18 O, probably at night. Late glacial and early Holocene δ 18 Os show lower values compared to modern ones. Early Holocene δ 18 Os values likely track enhanced moisture and isotopic changes in the precipitation source. By contrast, lower late glacial δ 18 O could reflect lower temperatures and δ 18 Op, compared to the present day. Shell carbon isotope values indicate the presence of C 3 vegetation as main source of carbon to late glacial and early Holocene snails.
Constraining the onset of the Holocene Neoglacial over the central Italy using tephra layers
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 08-06-2012
DOI: 10.1016/J.YQRES.2012.05.010
Abstract: A study of six tephra layers discovered in different deposits between 1600 and 2700 m a.s.l. in the Apennine chain in central Italy allowed precise stratigraphic constraints on environmental and climatic changes between ca. 4.5 and 3.8 cal ka BP. Chemical analyses allowed the correlation of these tephra layers with the eruptions of Agnano Mt Spina (AMST) from Phlegrean Field and Avellino (AVT) from Somma–Vesuvius. Major environmental changes in the high mountains of the Central Apennines occurred just after the deposition of the AMST and predate the deposition of the AVT. At this time, renewed growth of the Calderone Glacier occurred, marking the onset of the Apennine “Neoglacial”. The presence of the AMST and AVT enabled us to make a precise, physical correlation with other archives in central Italy. Synchronization of records between sites showed that the period intervening the deposition of the AMST and AVT layers coincided with environmental changes that were not always exactly in phase. This highlights the fact that stratigraphic correlations using only radiocarbon chronologies (the most common method used for dating archives during the Holocene) could produce erroneous correlation of events, giving rise to oversimplified paleoclimatic reconstructions.
Evidence for obliquity forcing of glacial termination II
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Date: 18-09-2009
Abstract: In Milankovich theory, the canonical theory of glaciation and deglaciation, ice sheets wax and wane in response to the amount of summer insolation at a latitude of 65°N, which is consistent with the observed timing of the last deglaciation. The penultimate glaciation behaved quite differently, however. Now, Drysdale et al. (p. 1527 , published online 13 August) offer firmer constraints on the timing of the penultimate deglaciation, by correlating a difficult-to-date marine record of ocean volume to a precisely datable nearby speleothem (terrestrial stalagmite). Ocean volume began to increase about 141,000 years ago, thousands of years before the rise in 65°N summer insolation. Thus, instead of the forcing mechanism proposed by Milankovich, variations in Earth's obliquity may be mostly responsible for the disappearance of ice sheets.
Sedimentological processes and environmental variability at Lake Ohrid (Macedonia, Albania) between 637 ka and the present
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 26-02-2016
Abstract: Abstract. Lake Ohrid (Macedonia, Albania) is thought to be more than 1.2 million years old and host more than 300 endemic species. As a target of the International Continental scientific Drilling Program (ICDP), a successful deep drilling c aign was carried out within the scope of the Scientific Collaboration on Past Speciation Conditions in Lake Ohrid (SCOPSCO) project in 2013. Here, we present lithological, sedimentological, and (bio-)geochemical data from the upper 247.8 m composite depth of the overall 569 m long DEEP site sediment succession from the central part of the lake. According to an age model, which is based on 11 tephra layers (first-order tie points) and on tuning of bio-geochemical proxy data to orbital parameters (second-order tie points), the analyzed sediment sequence covers the last 637 kyr. The DEEP site sediment succession consists of hemipelagic sediments, which are interspersed by several tephra layers and infrequent, thin ( 5 cm) mass wasting deposits. The hemipelagic sediments can be classified into three different lithotypes. Lithotype 1 and 2 deposits comprise calcareous and slightly calcareous silty clay and are predominantly attributed to interglacial periods with high primary productivity in the lake during summer and reduced mixing during winter. The data suggest that high ion and nutrient concentrations in the lake water promoted calcite precipitation and diatom growth in the epilimnion during MIS15, 13, and 5. Following a strong primary productivity, highest interglacial temperatures can be reported for marine isotope stages (MIS) 11 and 5, whereas MIS15, 13, 9, and 7 were comparably cooler. Lithotype 3 deposits consist of clastic, silty clayey material and predominantly represent glacial periods with low primary productivity during summer and longer and intensified mixing during winter. The data imply that the most severe glacial conditions at Lake Ohrid persisted during MIS16, 12, 10, and 6, whereas somewhat warmer temperatures can be inferred for MIS14, 8, 4, and 2. Interglacial-like conditions occurred during parts of MIS14 and 8.
Hydrological variability over the Apennines during the Early Last Glacial precession minimum, as revealed by a stable isotope record from Sulmona basin, Central Italy
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 2015
DOI: 10.1002/JQS.2755
Lateglacial to Holocene trace element record (Ba, Mg, Sr) from Corchia Cave (Apuan Alps, central Italy): Paleoenvironmental implications
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 05-2014
DOI: 10.1002/JQS.2712
Effects of organic removal techniques prior to carbonate stable isotope analysis of lacustrine marls: A case study from palaeo‐lake Fucino (central Italy)
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 19-02-2020
DOI: 10.1002/RCM.8623
Abstract: The suitability of organic matter (OM) removal pre-treatments in isotopic studies of lacustrine carbonates is currently under debate. Naturally occurring OM seems to have a negligible effect on the bulk isotopic composition of carbonates compared with changes induced by pre-treatments. This study provides further insights into the possible effects induced by commonly used pre-treatments on natural lacustrine carbonates. Sixteen s les from the Fucino F1-F3 lacustrine succession (Abruzzo, central Italy) were characterised for their mineralogical and geochemical composition and each was split into three identical aliquots. One aliquot was left untreated while the remaining two were treated with NaOCl and H The s les had variable proportions of endogenic and detrital components, the detrital portion being more (less) abundant during colder (warmer) climate phases. We observed that neither the NaOCl nor the H Our study highlights s le-specific changes in geochemistry associated with s le pre-treatments however, such changes do not seem to lead to either systematic and/or predictable isotopic shifts. We suggest that the suitability of NaOCl or H
Possible earthquake trigger for 6th century mass wasting deposit at Lake Ohrid (Macedonia/Albania)
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 20-12-2012
Abstract: Abstract. Lake Ohrid shared by the Republics of Albania and Macedonia is formed by a tectonically active graben within the south Balkans and suggested to be the oldest lake in Europe. Several studies have shown that the lake provides a valuable record of climatic and environmental changes and a distal tephrostratigraphic record of volcanic eruptions from Italy. Fault structures identified in seismic data demonstrate that sediments have also the potential to record tectonic activity in the region. Here, we provide an ex le of linking seismic and sedimentological information with tectonic activity and historical documents. Historical documents indicate that a major earthquake destroyed the city of Lychnidus (today: city of Ohrid) in the early 6th century AD. Multichannel seismic profiles, parametric sediment echosounder profiles, and a 10.08 m long sediment record from the western part of the lake indicate a 2 m thick mass wasting deposit, which is tentatively correlated with this earthquake. The mass wasting deposit is chronologically well constrained, as it directly overlays the AD 472/AD 512 tephra. Moreover, radiocarbon dates and cross correlation with other sediment sequences with similar geochemical characteristics of the Holocene indicate that the mass wasting event took place prior to the onset of the Medieval Warm Period, and is attributed it to one of the known earthquakes in the region in the early 6th century AD.
Stalagmite evidence for the onset of the Last Interglacial in southern Europe at 129 ± 1 ka
Publisher: American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Date: 12-2005
DOI: 10.1029/2005GL024658
Effects of clove oil on the stress response of matrinxã (Brycon cephalus) subjected to transport
Publisher: FapUNIFESP (SciELO)
Date: 06-2005
DOI: 10.1590/S0044-59672005000200018
Abstract: Fish transport is one of the most stressful procedures in aquaculture facilities. The present work evaluated the stress response of matrinxã to transportation procedures, and the use of clove oil as an alternative to reduce the stress response to transport in matrinxã (Brycon cephalus). Clove oil solutions were tested in concentrations of 0, 1, 5 and 10 mg/L during matrinxã transportation in plastic bags, supplied with water and oxygen as the usual field procedures in Brazil. Clove oil reduced some of the physiological stress responses (plasma cortisol, glucose and ions) that we measured. The high energetic cost to matrinxã cope with the transport stress was clear by the decrease of liver glycogen after transport. Our results suggest that clove oil (5 mg/l) can mitigate the stress response in matrinxã subjected to transport.
Age depth-model for the past 630 ka in Lake Ohrid (Macedonia/Albania) based on cyclostratigraphic analysis of downhole gamma ray data
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 22-05-2015
Abstract: Abstract. We report the gamma ray fluctuations from downhole logging data obtained in the sediments of Lake Ohrid from 0 to 240 m below lake floor. These variations in gamma ray and potassium values strongly correlate with fluctuations in global δ18O values and can be thus considered a reliable proxy to depict glacial–interglacial cycles, with high clastic input during cold and/or drier periods and high carbonate precipitation during the warm and/or humid periods in Lake Ohrid. Spectral analysis (sliding window) was applied to investigate the climate signal and their evolution over the length of the borehole. Linking the downhole logging data with orbital cycles was used to estimate sedimentation rates, which shift from 45 cm ka−1 between 0 to 110 m to 30 cm ka−1 from 110 to 240 m below lake floor. The effect of compaction was compensated for. Sedimentation rates increase on average by 14% after decompaction of the sediment layers. Tuning of minima and maxima in gamma ray and potassium values vs. LR04 minima and maxima, in combination with eight independent tephrostratigraphical tie points, allows the establishment of a robust age model for the downhole logging data over the past 630 ka in Lake Ohrid.
The 4.2 ka BP Event in the Mediterranean region: an overview
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 27-03-2019
Abstract: Abstract. The Mediterranean region and the Levant have returned some of the clearest evidence of a climatically dry period occurring around 4200 years ago. However, some regional evidence is controversial and contradictory, and issues remain regarding timing, progression, and regional articulation of this event. In this paper, we review the evidence from selected proxies (sea-surface temperature, precipitation, and temperature reconstructed from pollen, δ18O on speleothems, and δ18O on lacustrine carbonate) over the Mediterranean Basin to infer possible regional climate patterns during the interval between 4.3 and 3.8 ka. The values and limitations of these proxies are discussed, and their potential for furnishing information on seasonality is also explored. Despite the chronological uncertainties, which are the main limitations for disentangling details of the climatic conditions, the data suggest that winter over the Mediterranean involved drier conditions, in addition to already dry summers. However, some exceptions to this prevail – where wetter conditions seem to have persisted – suggesting regional heterogeneity in climate patterns. Temperature data, even if sparse, also suggest a cooling anomaly, even if this is not uniform. The most common paradigm to interpret the precipitation regime in the Mediterranean – a North Atlantic Oscillation-like pattern – is not completely satisfactory to interpret the selected data.
Duration and dynamics of the best orbital analogue to the present interglacial
Publisher: Geological Society of America
Date: 07-2015
DOI: 10.1130/G36677.1
A compilation of Western European terrestrial records 60–8 ka BP: towards an understanding of latitudinal climatic gradients
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2014
Aligning and synchronization of MIS5 proxy records from Lake Ohrid (FYROM) with independently dated Mediterranean archives: implications for DEEP core chronology
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 11-05-2016
Abstract: Abstract. The DEEP site sediment sequence obtained during the ICDP SCOPSCO project at Lake Ohrid was dated using tephrostratigraphic information, cyclostratigraphy, and orbital tuning through the marine isotope stages (MIS) 15-1. Although this approach is suitable for the generation of a general chronological framework of the long succession, it is insufficient to resolve more detailed palaeoclimatological questions, such as leads and lags of climate events between marine and terrestrial records or between different regions. Here, we demonstrate how the use of different tie points can affect cyclostratigraphy and orbital tuning for the period between ca. 140 and 70 ka and how the results can be correlated with directly/indirectly radiometrically dated Mediterranean marine and continental proxy records. The alternative age model presented here shows consistent differences with that initially proposed by Francke et al. (2015) for the same interval, in particular at the level of the MIS6-5e transition. According to this new age model, different proxies from the DEEP site sediment record support an increase of temperatures between glacial to interglacial conditions, which is almost synchronous with a rapid increase in sea surface temperature observed in the western Mediterranean. The results show how a detailed study of independent chronological tie points is important to align different records and to highlight asynchronisms of climate events. Moreover, Francke et al. (2016) have incorporated the new chronology proposed for tephra OH-DP-0499 in the final DEEP age model. This has reduced substantially the chronological discrepancies between the DEEP site age model and the model proposed here for the last glacial-interglacial transition.
Persistent influence of obliquity on ice age terminations since the Middle Pleistocene transition
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Date: 13-03-2020
Abstract: Understanding more exactly how the timing of deglaciations depends on changes in insolation, or the energy received by Earth from the Sun, requires precise and independent records of both environmental change and solar energy input. Bajo et al . strengthened the weak link of that two-member chain, the environmental record, by developing a precise, radiometrically dated chronology of the 11 deglaciations of the past million years derived from speleothems. This allowed them to show more clearly how the initiation and duration of glacial terminations over that period depended on solar obliquity and precession. Science , this issue p. 1235
Multiproxy record for the last 4500 years from Lake Shkodra (Albania/Montenegro)
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 11-2012
DOI: 10.1002/JQS.2563
Enhanced rainfall in the Western Mediterranean during deposition of sapropel S1: stalagmite evidence from Corchia cave (Central Italy)
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2007
Palaeoclimatic implications of the growth history and stable isotope (δ18O and δ13C) geochemistry of a Middle to Late Pleistocene stalagmite from central-western Italy
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2004
The 4.2 ka event in the central Mediterranean: new data from a Corchia speleothem (Apuan Alps, central Italy)
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 22-01-2019
Abstract: Abstract. We present new data on the 4.2 ka event in the central Mediterranean from Corchia Cave (Tuscany, central Italy) stalagmite CC27. The stalagmite was analyzed for stable isotopes (δ13C and δ18O) and trace elements (Mg, U, P, Y), with all proxies showing a coherent phase of reduced cave recharge between ca. 4.5 and 4.1 ka BP. Based on the current climatological data on cyclogenesis, the reduction in cave recharge is considered to be associated with the weakening of the cyclone center located in the Gulf of Genoa in response to reduced advection of air masses from the Atlantic during winter. These conditions, which closely resemble a positive North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) type of configuration, are associated with cooler and wetter summers with reduced sea warming, which reduced the western Mediterranean evaporation during autumn–early winter, further reducing precipitation.
North–south palaeohydrological contrasts in the central Mediterranean during the Holocene: tentative synthesis and working hypotheses
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 05-04-2013
Abstract: Abstract. On the basis of a multi-proxy approach and a strategy combining lacustrine and marine records along a north–south transect, data collected in the Central Mediterranean within the framework of a collaborative project have led to reconstruction of high-resolution and well-dated palaeohydrological records and to assessment of their spatial and temporal coherency. Contrasting patterns of palaeohydrological changes have been evidenced in the Central Mediterranean: south (north) of around 40° N of latitude, the middle part of the Holocene was characterised by lake-level maxima (minima), during an interval dated to ca. 10 300–4500 cal BP to the south and 9000–4500 cal BP to the north. Available data suggest that these contrasting palaeohydrological patterns operated throughout the Holocene, both on millennial and centennial scales. Regarding precipitation seasonality, maximum humidity in the Central Mediterranean during the middle part of the Holocene was characterised by humid winters and dry summers north of ca. 40° N, and humid winters and summers south of ca. 40° N. This may explain an apparent conflict between palaeoclimatic records depending on the proxies used for reconstruction as well as the synchronous expansion of tree species taxa with contrasting climatic requirements. In addition, south of ca. 40° N, the first millennium of the Holocene was characterised by very dry climatic conditions not only in the Eastern, but also in the Central and the Western Mediterranean zones as reflected by low lake levels and delayed reforestation. These results suggest that, in addition to the influence of the Nile discharge reinforced by the African monsoon, the deposition of Sapropel 1 has been favoured (1) by an increase in winter precipitation in the northern Mediterranean borderlands, and (2) by an increase in winter and summer precipitation in the southern Mediterranean area. The climate reversal following the Holocene climate optimum appears to have been punctuated by two major climate changes around 7500 and 4500 cal BP. In the Central Mediterranean, the Holocene palaeohydrological changes developed in response to a combination of orbital, ice-sheet and solar forcing factors. The maximum humidity interval in the south-central Mediterranean started at ca. 10 300 cal BP, in correlation with the decline (1) of the possible blocking effects of the North Atlantic anticyclone linked to maximum insolation, and/or (2) of the influence of the remnant ice sheets and fresh water forcing in the North Atlantic Ocean. In the north-central Mediterranean, the lake-level minimum interval began only around 9000 cal BP when the Fennoscandian ice-sheet disappeared and a prevailing positive NAO-type circulation developed in the North Atlantic area. The major palaeohydrological oscillation around 4500–4000 cal BP may be a non-linear response to the gradual decrease, with additional key seasonal and interhemispherical changes, in insolation. On a centennial scale, the successive climatic events which punctuated the entire Holocene in the central Mediterranean coincided with cooling events associated with deglacial outbursts in the North Atlantic area and decreases in solar activity during the interval 11 700–7000 cal BP, and to a possible combination of NAO-type circulation and solar forcing since ca. 7000 cal BP onwards. Thus, regarding the centennial-scale climatic oscillations, the Mediterranean Basin appears to have been strongly linked to the North Atlantic area and affected by solar activity over the entire Holocene. In addition to model experiments, a better understanding of forcing factors and past atmospheric circulation patterns behind the Holocene palaeohydrological changes in the Mediterranean area will require further investigation to establish additional high-resolution and well-dated records in selected locations around the Mediterranean Basin and in adjacent regions. Special attention should be paid to greater precision in the reconstruction, on millennial and centennial time scales, of changes in the latitudinal location of the limit between the northern and southern palaeohydrological Mediterranean sectors, depending on (1) the intensity and/or characteristics of climatic periods/oscillations (e.g. Holocene thermal maximum versus Neoglacial, as well as, for instance, the 8.2 ka event versus the 4 ka event or the Little Ice Age), and (2) on varying geographical conditions from the western to the eastern Mediterranean areas (longitudinal gradients).
First tephrostratigraphic results of the DEEP site record from Lake Ohrid, Macedonia
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 17-09-2015
DOI: 10.5194/BGD-12-15411-2015
Abstract: Abstract. A~tephrostratigraphic record covering the Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 1–15 was established for the DEEP site record of Lake Ohrid (Macedonia/Albania). Major element analyses (SEM-EDS/WDS) were carried out on juvenile fragments extracted from 12 tephra layers (OH-DP-0115 to OH-DP-2060). The geochemical analyses of the glass shards of all of these layers suggest an origin from the Italian Volcanic Provinces. They include: the Y-3 (OH-DP-0115, 26.68–29.42 cal ka BP), the C anian Ignimbrite/Y-5 (OH-DP-0169, 39.6 ± 0.1 ka), and the X-6 (OH-DP-0404, 109 ± 2 ka) from the C anian volcanoes, the P-11 of the Pantelleria Island (OH-DP-0499, 129 ± 6 ka), the Vico B (OH-DP-0617, 162 ± 6 ka) from the Vico volcano, the Pozzolane Rosse (OH-DP-1817, 457 ± 2 ka) and the Tufo di Bagni Albule (OH-DP-2060, 527 ± 2 ka) from the Colli Albani volcanic district, and the Fall A (OH-DP-2010, 496 ± 3 ka) from the Sabatini volcanic field. Furthermore, a comparison of the Ohrid record with tephrostratigraphic records of mid-distal archives related to the Mediterranean area, allowed the recognition of the equivalents of other less known tephra layers, such as the TM24-a/POP2 (OH-DP-0404, 101.8 ka) from the Lago Grande di Monticchio and the Sulmona basin, the CF-V5/PRAD3225 (OH-DP-0624, ca. 162 ka) from the C o Felice basin/Adriatic Sea, the SC5 (OH-DP-1955, 493.1 ± 10.9 ka) from the Mercure basin, and the A11/12 (OH-DP-2017, 511 ± 6 ka) from the Acerno basin, whose specific volcanic sources are still poorly constrained. Additionally, one cryptotephra (OH-DP-0027) was identified by correlation of the potassium XRF intensities from the DEEP site with those from short cores of previous studies from Lake Ohrid. In these cores, a maximum in potassium is caused by glass shards, which were correlated with the Mercato tephra (8.43–8.63 cal ka BP) from Somma-Vesuvius. With the tephrostratigraphic work, a consistent part of the Middle Pleistocene tephrostratigraphic framework of Italian volcanoes was for the first time extended as far as to the Balkans. The establishment of the tephrostratigraphic framework for the Lake Ohrid record provides important, independent tie-points for the age-depth model of the DEEP site sequence, which is a prerequisite for paleoclimatic and -environmental reconstructions. Furthermore, this age-depth model will help to improve and re-evaluate the chronology of other, both undated and dated tephra layers from other records. Thus, the Lake Ohrid record is candidate to become the Rosetta stone for the central Mediterranean tephrostratigraphy, especially for the hitherto poorly known and explored lower Middle Pleistocene period.
Coeval dry events in the central and eastern Mediterranean basin at 5.2 and 5.6ka recorded in Corchia (Italy) and Soreq caves (Israel) speleothems
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2014
Late Quaternary palaeoenvironmental reconstruction from Lakes Ohrid and Prespa (Macedonia/Albania border) using stable isotopes
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 13-10-2010
Abstract: Abstract. Here we present stable isotope data from three sediment records from lakes that lie along the Macedonian-Albanian border (Lake Prespa: 1 core, and Lake Ohrid: 2 cores). The records only overlap for the last 40 kyr, although the longest record contains the MIS 5/6 transition (Lake Ohrid). The sedimentary characteristics of both lakes differ significantly between the glacial and interglacial phases. At the end of MIS 6 Lake Ohrid's water level was low (high δ18Ocalcite) and, although productivity was increasing (high calcite content), the carbon supply was mainly from inorganic catchment rock sources (high δ13Ccarb). During the last interglacial, calcite and TOC production and preservation increased, progressively lower δ18Ocalcite suggest increase in humidity and lake levels until around 115 ka. During ca. 80 ka to 11 ka the lake records suggest cold conditions as indicated by negligible calcite precipitation and low organic matter content. In Lake Ohrid, δ13Corg are complacent in contrast, Lake Prespa shows consistently higher δ13Corg suggesting a low oxidation of 13C-depleted organic matter in agreement with a general deterioration of climate conditions during the glacial. From 15 ka to the onset of the Holocene, calcite and TOC begin to increase, suggesting lake levels were probably low (high δ18Ocalcite). In the Holocene (11 ka to present) enhanced productivity is manifested by high calcite and organic matter content. All three cores show an early Holocene characterised by low δ18Ocalcite, apart from the very early Holocene phase in Prespa where the lowest δ18Ocalcite occurs at ca. 7.5 ka, suggesting a phase of higher lake level only in (the more sensitive) Lake Prespa. From 6 ka, δ18Ocalcite suggest progressive aridification, in agreement with many other records in the Mediterranean, although the uppermost sediments in one core records low δ18Ocalcite which we interpret as a result of human activity. Overall, the isotope data present here confirm that these two big lakes have captured the large scale, low frequency palaeoclimate variation that is seen in Mediterranean lakes, although in detail there is much palaeoclimate information that could be gained, especially small scale, high frequency differences between this region and the Mediterranean.
The environmental and evolutionary history of Lake Ohrid (FYROM/Albania): Interim results from the SCOPSCO deep drilling project
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 12-2016
DOI: 10.5194/BG-2016-475
Abstract: Abstract. This study reviews and synthesises existing information generated within the SCOPSCO ("Scientific Collaboration on Past Speciation Conditions in Lake Ohrid") deep drilling project. The four main aims of the project are to infer (i) the age and origin of Lake Ohrid (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia/Republic of Albania), (ii) its regional seismotectonic history, (iii) volcanic activity and climate change in the central northern Mediterranean region, and (iv) the drivers of bio ersity and endemism. The Ohrid basin formed by transtension during the Miocene, opened during the Pliocene and Pleistocene, and the lake established de novo in the still relatively narrow valley between 1.9 and 1.3 Myr ago. The lake history is recorded in a 584 m long sediment sequence, which was recovered within the framework of the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) from the central part (DEEP site) of the lake in spring 2013. To date, 50 tephra and crypto-tephra horizons have been found in the upper 460 m of this sequence. Tephrochronology and tuning biogeochemical proxy data to orbital parameters revealed that the upper 247.8 m represent the last 637 kyr. The multi-proxy dataset covering these 637 kyr indicates long-term variability, with a change from cooler and wetter to drier and warmer glacial and interglacial periods around 300 ka. Short-term environmental change caused, for ex le, by tephra deposition or the climatic impact of millennial-scale Dansgaard-Oeschger and Heinrich events are superimposed on the long-term trends. Evolutionary studies on the extant fauna indicate that Lake Ohrid was not a refugial area for regional freshwater animals. This differs from the surrounding catchment, where the mountainous setting with relatively high water availability provided a refugial area for temperate and montane trees during the relatively cold and dry glacial periods. Although Lake Ohrid experienced significant environmental change over the last 637 kyr, preliminary molecular data from extant microgastropod species do not indicate significant changes in ersification rate during this period. The reasons for this constant rate remain largely unknown, but a possible lack of environmentally induced extinction events in Lake Ohrid and/or the high resilience of the ecosystems may have played a role.
Deep drilling reveals massive shifts in evolutionary dynamics after formation of ancient ecosystem
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Date: 02-10-2020
Abstract: A volatile assemblage of short-lived endemic species developed into a stable community of long-lived species in Lake Ohrid.
The SCOPSCO drilling project recovers more than 1.2 million years of history from Lake Ohrid
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 29-04-2014
Abstract: Abstract. The Scientific Collaboration on Past Speciation Conditions in Lake Ohrid (SCOPSCO) project is an international research initiative to study the influence of major geological and environmental events on the biological evolution of lake taxa. SCOPSCO drilling c aigns were carried out in 2011 and 2013. In 2011 we used gravity and piston coring at one of the five proposed drill sites, and in 2013 we undertook deep drilling with the Deep Lake Drilling System (DLDS) of Drilling, Observation and S ling of the Earth's Continental Crust (DOSECC). In April and May 2013, a total of 2100 m sediments were recovered from four drill sites with water depths ranging from 125 to 260 m. The maximum drill depth was 569 m below the lake floor in the centre of the lake. By retrieving overlapping sediment sequences, 95% of the sediment succession was recovered. Initial data from borehole logging, core logging and geochemical measurements indicate that the sediment succession covers .2 million years (Ma) in a quasi-continuous sequence. These early findings suggest that the record from Lake Ohrid will substantially improve the knowledge of long-term environmental change and short-term geological events in the northeastern Mediterranean region, which forms the basis for improving understanding of the influence of major geological and environmental events on the biological evolution of endemic species.
Pollen-based paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic change at Lake Ohrid (south-eastern Europe) during the past 500 ka
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 08-03-2016
Abstract: Abstract. Lake Ohrid is located at the border between FYROM (Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia) and Albania and formed during the latest phases of Alpine orogenesis. It is the deepest, the largest and the oldest tectonic lake in Europe. To better understand the paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental evolution of Lake Ohrid, deep drilling was carried out in 2013 within the framework of the Scientific Collaboration on Past Speciation Conditions (SCOPSCO) project that was funded by the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP). Preliminary results indicate that lacustrine sedimentation of Lake Ohrid started between 1.2 and 1.9 Ma ago. Here we present new pollen data (selected percentage and concentration taxa/groups) of the uppermost ∼ 200 m of the 569 m long DEEP core drilled in the depocentre of Lake Ohrid. The study is the fruit of a cooperative work carried out in several European palynological laboratories. The age model of this part of the core is based on 10 tephra layers and on tuning of biogeochemical proxy data to orbital parameters. According to the age model, the studied sequence covers the last ∼ 500 000 years at a millennial-scale resolution ( ∼ 1.6 ka) and records the major vegetation and climate changes that occurred during the last 12 (13 only pro parte) marine isotope stages (MIS). Our results indicate that there is a general good correspondence between forested/non-forested periods and glacial–interglacial cycles of the marine isotope stratigraphy. The record shows a progressive change from cooler and wetter to warmer and drier interglacial conditions. This shift in temperature and moisture availability is visible also in vegetation during glacial periods. The period corresponding to MIS11 (pollen assemblage zone OD-10, 428–368 ka BP) is dominated by montane trees such as conifers. Mesophilous elements such as deciduous and semi-deciduous oaks dominate forest periods of MIS5 (PASZ OD-3, 129–70 ka BP) and MIS1 (PASZ OD-1, 14 ka BP to present). Moreover, MIS7 (PASZ OD-6, 245–190 ka) shows a very high interglacial variability, with alternating expansions of montane and mesophilous arboreal taxa. Grasslands (open vegetation formations requiring relatively humid conditions) characterize the earlier glacial phases of MIS12 (PASZ OD-12, 488–459 ka), MIS10 (corresponding to the central part of PASZ OD-10, 428–366 ka) and MIS8 (PASZ OD-7, 288–245 ka). Steppes (open vegetation formations typical of dry environments) prevail during MIS6 (OD-5 and OD-4, 190–129 ka) and during MIS4-2 (PASZ OD-2, 70–14 ka). Our palynological results support the notion that Lake Ohrid has been a refugium area for both temperate and montane trees during glacials. Closer comparisons with other long southern European and Near Eastern pollen records will be achieved through ongoing high-resolution studies.
North–south palaeohydrological contrasts in the central Mediterranean during the Holocene: tentative synthesis and working hypotheses
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 02-09-2013
Abstract: Abstract. On the basis of a multi-proxy approach and a strategy combining lacustrine and marine records along a north–south transect, data collected in the central Mediterranean within the framework of a collaborative project have led to reconstruction of high-resolution and well-dated palaeohydrological records and to assessment of their spatial and temporal coherency. Contrasting patterns of palaeohydrological changes have been evidenced in the central Mediterranean: south (north) of around 40° N of latitude, the middle part of the Holocene was characterised by lake-level maxima (minima), during an interval dated to ca. 10 300–4500 cal BP to the south and 9000–4500 cal BP to the north. Available data suggest that these contrasting palaeohydrological patterns operated throughout the Holocene, both on millennial and centennial scales. Regarding precipitation seasonality, maximum humidity in the central Mediterranean during the middle part of the Holocene was characterised by humid winters and dry summers north of ca. 40° N, and humid winters and summers south of ca. 40° N. This may explain an apparent conflict between palaeoclimatic records depending on the proxies used for reconstruction as well as the synchronous expansion of tree species taxa with contrasting climatic requirements. In addition, south of ca. 40° N, the first millennium of the Holocene was characterised by very dry climatic conditions not only in the eastern, but also in the central- and the western Mediterranean zones as reflected by low lake levels and delayed reforestation. These results suggest that, in addition to the influence of the Nile discharge reinforced by the African monsoon, the deposition of Sapropel 1 has been favoured (1) by an increase in winter precipitation in the northern Mediterranean borderlands, and (2) by an increase in winter and summer precipitation in the southern Mediterranean area. The climate reversal following the Holocene climate optimum appears to have been punctuated by two major climate changes around 7500 and 4500 cal BP. In the central Mediterranean, the Holocene palaeohydrological changes developed in response to a combination of orbital, ice-sheet and solar forcing factors. The maximum humidity interval in the south-central Mediterranean started ca. 10 300 cal BP, in correlation with the decline (1) of the possible blocking effects of the North Atlantic anticyclone linked to maximum insolation, and/or (2) of the influence of the remnant ice sheets and fresh water forcing in the North Atlantic Ocean. In the north-central Mediterranean, the lake-level minimum interval began only around 9000 cal BP when the Fennoscandian ice sheet disappeared and a prevailing positive NAO-(North Atlantic Oscillation) type circulation developed in the North Atlantic area. The major palaeohydrological oscillation around 4500–4000 cal BP may be a non-linear response to the gradual decrease in insolation, with additional key seasonal and interhemispheric changes. On a centennial scale, the successive climatic events which punctuated the entire Holocene in the central Mediterranean coincided with cooling events associated with deglacial outbursts in the North Atlantic area and decreases in solar activity during the interval 11 700–7000 cal BP, and to a possible combination of NAO-type circulation and solar forcing since ca. 7000 cal BP onwards. Thus, regarding the centennial-scale climatic oscillations, the Mediterranean Basin appears to have been strongly linked to the North Atlantic area and affected by solar activity over the entire Holocene. In addition to model experiments, a better understanding of forcing factors and past atmospheric circulation patterns behind the Holocene palaeohydrological changes in the Mediterranean area will require further investigation to establish additional high-resolution and well-dated records in selected locations around the Mediterranean Basin and in adjacent regions. Special attention should be paid to greater precision in the reconstruction, on millennial and centennial timescales, of changes in the latitudinal location of the limit between the northern and southern palaeohydrological Mediterranean sectors, depending on (1) the intensity and/or characteristics of climatic periods/oscillations (e.g. Holocene thermal maximum versus Neoglacial, as well as, for instance, the 8.2 ka event versus the 4 ka event or the Little Ice Age) and (2) on varying geographical conditions from the western to the eastern Mediterranean areas (longitudinal gradients). Finally, on the basis of projects using strategically located study sites, there is a need to explore possible influences of other general atmospheric circulation patterns than NAO, such as the East Atlantic–West Russian or North Sea–Caspian patterns, in explaining the apparent complexity of palaeoclimatic (palaeohydrological) Holocene records from the Mediterranean area.
Aligning MIS5 proxy records from Lake Ohrid (FYROM) with independently dated Mediterranean archives: implications for core chronology
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 21-10-2015
DOI: 10.5194/BGD-12-16979-2015
Abstract: Abstract. The DEEP site sediment sequence obtained during the ICDP SCOPSCO project at Lake Ohrid was dated using tephrostratigraphic information, cyclostratigraphy, and orbital tuning through marine isotope record. Although this approach is suitable for the generation of a general chronological framework of the long succession, it is insufficient to resolve more detailed paleoclimatological questions, such as leads and lags of climate events between marine and terrestrial records or between different regions. In this paper, we demonstrate how the use of different tie points can affect cyclostratigraphy and orbital tuning for the period between ca. 140 and 70 ka and how the results can be correlated with directly/indirectly radiometrically-dated Mediterranean marine and continental proxy records. The alternative age model obtained shows consistent differences with that proposed by Francke et al. (2015) for the same interval, in particular at the level of the MIS6-5e transition. According to this age model, different proxies from the DEEP site sediment record support an increase of temperatures between glacial to interglacial conditions, which is almost synchronous with a rapid increase in sea surface temperature observed in the western Mediterranean. The results show how important a detailed study of independent chronological tie points is for synchronizing different records and to highlight asynchronisms of climate events.
High-resolution U-Pb dating of an Early Pleistocene stalagmite from Corchia Cave (central Italy)
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2012
Last Glacial central Mediterranean hydrology inferred from Lake Trasimeno’s (Italy) calcium carbonate geochemistry
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 02-09-2021
DOI: 10.1111/BOR.12552
Abstract: There is still a paucity of hydrological data explaining the relationship between (rapid, millennial‐scale) climate forcing and Mediterranean rainfall since the Last Glacial. We show that distinct lake‐level fluctuations at Lake Trasimeno (Italy) are associated with changing aridity in the central Mediterranean during the last ~47 800 years. The lake‐level fluctuations are reconstructed based on carbonate mineral content and carbonate mineral species, as well as the stable oxygen and carbon isotope (δ 18 O and δ 13 C) geochemistry of endogenic carbonates. Low lake levels are linked to high carbonate, Mg‐calcite and aragonite contents, and high δ 18 O and δ 13 C values. Inferred hydrological changes are linked to glacial–interglacial and, tentatively within the limitations of our chronology, to millennial‐scale climate variability as well as the intensity of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). Prior to the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), during intervals equivalent to Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3), a stronger AMOC associated with Greenland interstadial periods (Dansgaard/Oeschger (D/O) warm periods) and stronger Asian monsoon probably coincide with increased precipitation in central Italy as inferred from high lake levels at Lake Trasimeno. Periods of weak AMOC intensity such as during Greenland stadials (D/O cold periods), during Heinrich events, and weak Asian monsoons are correlated with lake level lowstands, which imply relatively dry conditions in central Italy. Lake Trasimeno’s water level during the LGM and the Lateglacial (MIS 2) is relatively stable, with recorded changes showing distinct similarities to orbital configurations. Although muted, high latitude climate forcing is still evident in the data during peak glacial conditions. The transition from D/O‐like hydrological variability at Lake Trasimeno during MIS 3 to orbitally controlled fluctuations during the Lateglacial to Holocene transition coincides with an increasing litude in local winter and summer insolation, probably indicating increasing seasonality and a larger temperature gradient between low‐ and high‐latitude settings.
The holocene climatic evolution of mediterranean Italy: A review of the continental geological data
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 25-01-2011
Abstract: We present a synthesis of geological, stratigraphic, geomorphological and stable isotope data collected from continental archives to highlight the environmental and climatic differences between the first and second half of the Holocene of central and southern Italy. The beginning of the Holocene is marked by rapid environmental change. In Mediterranean Italy, between c. 9500 cal. BP and c. 6000—5500 cal. BP, average temperatures were probably higher and environmental conditions were generally stable between c. 9000 and 7000 cal. BP, meteoric precipitation was at its highest. The end of the wetter period seems to occur later, at c. 6000—5000 cal. BP. Since c. 6000—5000 cal. BP, rapid climatic excursions are apparent in different palaeoclimate proxies, with both variability in meteoric precipitation and temperature evident. Of particular relevance is the event occurring at c. 4200 cal. BP. This event heralds a period of significant environmental change in the Apennines and, more generally, in central Italy. Following this event, environmental variability appears most pronounced and frequent. Some environmental changes during the early Holocene and after 4200 cal. BP seem to be in phase with IRD events in the North Atlantic, which suggest: (1) teleconnections between North Atlantic and Mediterranean areas and (2) a possible influence of North Atlantic meridional overturning circulation in controlling the advection of moisture over the central Mediterranean basin via westerly air masses. The archives used in this review allow us to consider climate evolution as a driver of most of the observed environmental changes.
First tephrostratigraphic results of the DEEP site record from Lake Ohrid (Macedonia and Albania)
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 13-04-2016
Abstract: Abstract. A tephrostratigraphic record covering the Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 1–15 was established for the DEEP site record of Lake Ohrid (Macedonia and Albania). Major element analyses (energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and wavelength-dispersive spectroscopy (WDS)) were carried out on juvenile fragments extracted from 12 tephra layers (OH-DP-0115 to OH-DP-2060). The geochemical analyses of the glass shards of all of these layers suggest an origin in the Italian volcanic provinces. They include the Y-3 (OH-DP-0115, 26.68–29.42 ka cal BP), the C anian Ignimbrite–Y-5 (OH-DP-0169, 39.6 ± 0.1 ka), and the X-6 (OH-DP-0404, 109 ± 2 ka) from the C anian volcanoes, the P-11 of Pantelleria (OH-DP-0499, 133.5 ± 2 ka), the Vico B (OH-DP-0617, 162 ± 6 ka) from the Vico volcano, the Pozzolane Rosse (OH-DP-1817, 457 ± 2 ka) and the Tufo di Bagni Albule (OH-DP-2060, 527 ± 2 ka) from the Colli Albani volcanic district, and the Fall A (OH-DP-2010, 496 ± 3 ka) from the Sabatini volcanic field. Furthermore, a comparison of the Ohrid record with tephrostratigraphic records of mid-distal archives related to the Mediterranean area allowed the recognition of the equivalents of other less known tephra layers, such as the TM24a–POP2 (OH-DP-0404, 102 ± 2 ka) recognized in the Lago Grande di Monticchio and the Sulmona Basin, the CF-V5–PRAD3225 (OH-DP-0624, ca. 163 ± 22 ka) identified in the C o Felice Basin and the Adriatic Sea, the SC5 (OH-DP-1955, 493.1 ± 10.9 ka) recognized in the Mercure Basin, and the A11/12 (OH-DP-2017, 511 ± 6 ka) s led at the Acerno Basin, whose specific volcanic sources are still poorly constrained. Additionally, one cryptotephra (OH-DP-0027) was identified by correlation of the potassium X-ray flourescence (XRF) intensities from the DEEP site with those from a short core of a previous study from Lake Ohrid. In these cores, a maximum in potassium is caused by glass shards, which were correlated with the Mercato tephra (8.43–8.63 ka cal BP) from Somma–Vesuvius. The tephrostratigraphic work presented here allows, for the first time, the extension of a consistent part of the Middle Pleistocene tephrostratigraphy of Italian volcanoes as far as the Balkans. The establishment of the tephrostratigraphic framework for the Lake Ohrid record provides important, independent tie points for the age–depth model of the DEEP site sequence, which is a prerequisite for palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental reconstructions. Furthermore, this age–depth model will help to improve and re-evaluate the chronology of other, both undated and dated tephra layers from other records. Thus, the Lake Ohrid record may potentially become the template for the central Mediterranean tephrostratigraphy, especially for the hitherto poorly known and explored lower Middle Pleistocene period.
Supplementary material to "Sedimentological processes and environmental variability at Lake Ohrid (Macedonia, Albania) between 640 ka and present day"
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 11-09-2015
The environmental and evolutionary history of Lake Ohrid (FYROM/Albania): interim results from the SCOPSCO deep drilling project
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 20-04-2017
Abstract: Abstract. This study reviews and synthesises existing information generated within the SCOPSCO (Scientific Collaboration on Past Speciation Conditions in Lake Ohrid) deep drilling project. The four main aims of the project are to infer (i) the age and origin of Lake Ohrid (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia/Republic of Albania), (ii) its regional seismotectonic history, (iii) volcanic activity and climate change in the central northern Mediterranean region, and (iv) the influence of major geological events on the evolution of its endemic species. The Ohrid basin formed by transtension during the Miocene, opened during the Pliocene and Pleistocene, and the lake established de novo in the still relatively narrow valley between 1.9 and 1.3 Ma. The lake history is recorded in a 584 m long sediment sequence, which was recovered within the framework of the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) from the central part (DEEP site) of the lake in spring 2013. To date, 54 tephra and cryptotephra horizons have been found in the upper 460 m of this sequence. Tephrochronology and tuning biogeochemical proxy data to orbital parameters revealed that the upper 247.8 m represent the last 637 kyr. The multi-proxy data set covering these 637 kyr indicates long-term variability. Some proxies show a change from generally cooler and wetter to drier and warmer glacial and interglacial periods around 300 ka. Short-term environmental change caused, for ex le, by tephra deposition or the climatic impact of millennial-scale Dansgaard–Oeschger and Heinrich events are superimposed on the long-term trends. Evolutionary studies on the extant fauna indicate that Lake Ohrid was not a refugial area for regional freshwater animals. This differs from the surrounding catchment, where the mountainous setting with relatively high water availability provided a refuge for temperate and montane trees during the relatively cold and dry glacial periods. Although Lake Ohrid experienced significant environmental change over the last 637 kyr, preliminary molecular data from extant microgastropod species do not indicate significant changes in ersification rate during this period. The reasons for this constant rate remain largely unknown, but a possible lack of environmentally induced extinction events in Lake Ohrid and/or the high resilience of the ecosystems may have played a role.
Stable isotope composition of Late Pleistocene-Holocene Eobania vermiculata (Müller, 1774) (Pulmonata, Stylommatophora) shells from the Central Mediterranean basin: Data from Grotta d'Oriente (Favignana, Sicily)
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2011
13C18O clumping in speleothems: Observations from natural caves and precipitation experiments
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2011
Northern Mediterranean climate since the Middle Pleistocene
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 24-03-2016
Abstract: Abstract. Lake Ohrid (Macedonia/Albania) is an ancient lake with unique bio ersity and a site of global significance for investigating the influence of climate, geological, and tectonic events on the generation of endemic populations. Here, we present oxygen (δ18O) and carbon (δ13C) isotope data from carbonate over the upper 243 m of a composite core profile recovered as part of the Scientific Collaboration on Past Speciation Conditions in Lake Ohrid (SCOPSCO) project. The investigated sediment succession covers the past ca. 637 ka. Previous studies on short cores from the lake (up to 15 m, 140 ka) have indicated the total inorganic carbon (TIC) content of sediments to be highly sensitive to climate change over the last glacial–interglacial cycle. Sediments corresponding to warmer periods contain abundant endogenic calcite however, an overall low TIC content in glacial sediments is punctuated by discrete bands of early diagenetic authigenic siderite. Isotope measurements on endogenic calcite (δ18Oc and δ13Cc) reveal variations both between and within interglacials that suggest the lake has been subject to palaeoenvironmental change on orbital and millennial timescales. We also measured isotope ratios from authigenic siderite (δ18Os and δ13Cs) and, with the oxygen isotope composition of calcite and siderite, reconstruct δ18O of lake water (δ18Olw) over the last 637 ka. Interglacials have higher δ18Olw values when compared to glacial periods most likely due to changes in evaporation, summer temperature, the proportion of winter precipitation (snowfall), and inflow from adjacent Lake Prespa. The isotope stratigraphy suggests Lake Ohrid experienced a period of general stability from marine isotope stage (MIS) 15 to MIS 13, highlighting MIS 14 as a particularly warm glacial. Climate conditions became progressively wetter during MIS 11 and MIS 9. Interglacial periods after MIS 9 are characterised by increasingly evaporated and drier conditions through MIS 7, MIS 5, and the Holocene. Our results provide new evidence for long-term climate change in the northern Mediterranean region, which will form the basis to better understand the influence of major environmental events on biological evolution within Lake Ohrid.
Stalagmite evidence for the precise timing of North Atlantic cold events during the early last glacial
Publisher: Geological Society of America
Date: 2007
DOI: 10.1130/G23161A.1
Precise microsampling of poorly laminated speleothems for U-series dating
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2012
Stable isotope composition of Helix ligata (Müller, 1774) from Late Pleistocene-Holocene archaeological record from Grotta della Serratura (Southern Italy): Palaeoclimatic implications
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2010
Stratigraphic evidence for a pluvial phase between ca 8200-7100 ka from Renella cave (Central Italy)
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2011
Pollen-based paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic change at Lake Ohrid (SE Europe) during the past 500 ka
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 17-09-2015
DOI: 10.5194/BGD-12-15461-2015
Abstract: Abstract. Lake Ohrid is located at the border between FYROM and Albania and formed during the latest phases of Alpine orogenesis. It is the deepest, the largest and the oldest tectonic lake in Europe. To better understand the paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental evolution of Lake Ohrid a deep drilling was carried out in 2013 within the framework of the Scientific Collaboration on Past Speciation Conditions (SCOPSCO) project that was funded by the International Continental Drilling Program (ICDP). Preliminary results indicate that lacustrine sedimentation of Lake Ohrid started between 1.2 and 1.9 Ma ago. Here we present new pollen data (selected percentage and concentration taxa/groups) of the uppermost ~200 m of the 569 m-long DEEP core drilled in the depocenter of Lake Ohrid. The study is the fruit of a cooperative work carried out in several European palynological laboratories. The age model is based on nine tephra layers and on tuning of biogeochemical proxy data to orbital parameters and to the global benthic isotope stack LR04. According to the age model the studied sequence covers the last ~500 000 years at a millennial-scale resolution (~1.6 ka) and record the major vegetation and climate changes that occurred during the last 12 (13 only pro parte) marine isotope stages (MIS). Our results indicate that there is a general good correspondence between forested/non-forested periods and glacial/interglacial cycles of marine isotope stratigraphy. Our record shows a progressive change from cooler and wetter to warmer and dryer interglacial conditions. This shift is visible also in glacial vegetation. The interglacial phase corresponding to MIS11 (pollen assemblage zone, PAZ OD-12, 488–455 ka BP and OD-19, 367–328 ka BP) is dominated by montane trees such as conifers. The two younger interglacial periods, MIS5 (PAZ OD-3, 126–70 ka BP) and MIS1 (PAZ OD-1, 12 ka BP to present) are marked by dominance of mesophilous elements such as deciduous and semi-deciduous oaks. Moreover, MIS7 (PAZ OD-6, 245–189 ka) shows a very high interglacial variability, with alternating expansions of montane and mesophilous arboreal taxa. Grasslands (open vegetation formations requiring relatively humid conditions) characterize the first glacial phases of MIS12 (PAZ OD-12, 488–455 ka), MIS10 (corresponding to PAZ OD-10, 421–367 ka) and MIS8 (PAZ OD-7, 285–245 ka). Steppes (open vegetation formations typical of dry environments) prevail during MIS6 (OD-5 and OD-4, 189–126 ka) and during MIS4–2 (PAZ OD-2, 70–12 ka). Our palynological results support the notion that Lake Ohrid has been a refugium area for both temperate and montane trees during glacials. Close comparisons with other long southern European and Near Eastern pollen records will be achieved through ongoing high-resolution studies.
Age–depth model of the past 630 kyr for Lake Ohrid (FYROM/Albania) based on cyclostratigraphic analysis of downhole gamma ray data
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 17-12-2015
Abstract: Abstract. Gamma ray (GR) fluctuations and potassium (K) values from downhole logging data obtained in the sediments of Lake Ohrid from 0 to 240 m below lake floor (b.l.f). correlate with fluctuations in δ18O values from the global benthic isotope stack LR04 (Lisiecki and Raymo, 2005). GR and K values are considered a reliable proxy to depict glacial–interglacial cycles, with high clastic input during cold and/or drier periods and high carbonate precipitation during warm and/or humid periods at Lake Ohrid. Spectral analysis was applied to investigate the climate signal and evolution over the length of the borehole. Linking downhole logging data with orbital cycles was used to estimate sedimentation rates and the effect of compaction was compensated for. Sedimentation rates increase on average by 14 % after decompaction of the sediment layers and the mean sedimentation rates shift from 45 cm kyr−1 between 0 and 110 m to 30 cm kyr−1 from 110 to 240 m b.l.f. Tuning of minima and maxima of gamma ray and potassium values versus LR04 extrema, in combination with eight independent tephrostratigraphical tie points, allows establishing of a robust age model for the downhole logging data over the past 630 kyr.
Adaptogens
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Date: 12-2016
Late Holocene drought responsible for the collapse of Old World civilizations is recorded in an Italian cave flowstone
Publisher: Geological Society of America
Date: 2006
DOI: 10.1130/G22103.1
A continuous stable isotope record from the penultimate glacial maximum to the Last Interglacial (159-121ka) from Tana Che Urla Cave (Apuan Alps, central Italy)
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 09-2014
DOI: 10.1016/J.YQRES.2014.05.005
Abstract: Relatively few radiometrically dated records are available for the central Mediterranean spanning the marine oxygen isotope stage 6–5 (MIS 6–5) transition and the first part of the Last Interglacial. Two flowstone cores from Tana che Urla Cave (TCU, central Italy), constrained by 19 U/Th ages, preserve an interval of continuous speleothem deposition between ca. 159 and 121 ka. A multiproxy record (δ 18 O, δ 13 C, growth rate and petrographic changes) obtained from this flowstone preserves significant regional-scale hydrological changes through the glacial/interglacial transition and multi-centennial variability (interpreted as alternations between wetter and drier periods) within both glacial and interglacial stages. The glacial stage shows a wetter period between ca. 154 and 152 ka, while the early to middle Last Interglacial period shows several drying events at ca. 129, 126 and 122 ka, which can be placed in the wider context of climatic instability emerging from North Atlantic marine and NW European terrestrial records. The TCU record also provides important insights into the evolution of local environmental conditions (i.e. soil development) in response to regional and global-scale climate events.
Magnesium in subaqueous speleothems as a potential palaeotemperature proxy
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 06-10-2020
DOI: 10.1038/S41467-020-18083-7
Abstract: Few palaeoclimate archives beyond the polar regions preserve continuous and datable palaeotemperature proxy time series over multiple glacial-interglacial cycles. This h ers efforts to develop a more coherent picture of global patterns of past temperatures. Here we show that Mg concentrations in a subaqueous speleothem from an Italian cave track regional sea-surface temperatures over the last 350,000 years. The Mg shows higher values during warm climate intervals and converse patterns during cold climate stages. In contrast to previous studies, this implicates temperature, not rainfall, as the principal driver of Mg variability. The depositional setting of the speleothem gives rise to Mg partition coefficients that are more temperature dependent than other calcites, enabling the effect of temperature change on Mg partitioning to greatly exceed the effects of changes in source-water Mg/Ca. Subaqueous speleothems from similar deep-cave environments should be capable of providing palaeotemperature information over multiple glacial-interglacial cycles.
Sedimentological processes and environmental variability at Lake Ohrid (Macedonia, Albania) between 640 ka and present day
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 11-09-2015
DOI: 10.5194/BGD-12-15111-2015
Abstract: Abstract. Lake Ohrid (FYROM, Albania) is thought to be more than 1.2 million years old and hosts more than 200 endemic species. As a target of the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP), a successful deep drilling c aign was carried out within the scope of the Scientific Collaboration on Past Speciation Conditions in Lake Ohrid (SCOPSCO) project in 2013. Here, we present lithological, sedimentological, and (bio-)geochemical data from the upper 247.8 m of the overall 569 m long DEEP site sediment succession from the central part of the lake. According to an age model, which is based on nine tephra layers (1st order tie points), and on tuning of biogeochemical proxy data to orbital parameters (2nd order tie points) and to the global benthic isotope stack LR04 (3rd order tie points), respectively, the analyzed sediment sequence covers the last 640 ka. The DEEP site sediment succession consists of hemipelagic sediments, which are interspersed by several tephra layers and infrequent, thin ( 5 cm) mass wasting deposits. The hemipelagic sediments can be classified into three different lithotypes. Lithotype 1 and 2 deposits comprise calcareous and slightly calcareous silty clay and are predominantly attributed to interglacial periods with high primary productivity in the lake during summer and reduced mixing during winter. The data suggest that high ion and nutrient concentrations in the lake water promoted calcite precipitation and diatom growth in the epilmnion in during MIS15, 13, and 5. Following a strong primary productivity, highest interglacial temperatures can be reported for MIS11 and 5, whereas MIS15, 13, 9, and 7 were comparable cooler. Lithotype 3 deposits consist of clastic, silty clayey material and predominantly represent glacial periods with low primary productivity during summer and longer and intensified mixing during winter. The data imply that most severe glacial conditions at Lake Ohrid persisted during MIS16, 12, 10, and 6 whereas somewhat warmer temperatures can be inferred for MIS14, 8, 4, and 3. Interglacial-like conditions occurred during parts of MIS14, and 8.
Related Organisations
Università Degli Studi Di Pisa Dipartimento Di Economia E Management
Location: Italy
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