The high-resolution palaeoclimatic and palaeoceanographic history of the last 24,000 years in the central Aegean Sea, Greece

Abstract

The palaeoclimatic and palaeoceanographic history of the N. Skyros Basin, central Aegean Sea, was studied based on the planktonic foraminifera and the stable isotopes obtained from the sediments of a sediment core selected in this area. The data were further supported by pollen and dinoflagellate cyst data. The data correspond to a mean sampling interval of about 170 yrs and cover the last 24,000 yrs. The variations in almost all of the records showed synchronicity, suggesting the occurrence of a series of climatic changes. The most pronounced climatic changes during the last glacial and late glacial periods are as follows: (i) a brief relatively warm and humid event at 19.5 kyr, (ii) two cold spells, at 17 ka and 15.8 ka, (iii) the climatic oscillation during the GI-1 event, and (iv) the development of the Younger Dryas (GS-1) event in two phases. During the Holocene epoch, five brief cold and/or arid phases occurred, at around 10.5 ka, 8.2 ka, 7 ka to 6 ka, 5.0 ka and 3.0 ka. The most warm and humid Holocene events correspond to the time of the deposition of the two sapropel sublayers: S1a and S1b. Almost all of these brief climatic changes are coeval with equivalent changes in high northern latitude areas and with changes in the intensity of the Siberian High, suggesting a climatic link between the studied area and the high-latitude areas. The prevalence of Holocene arid events, which coincide with equivalent events recorded in North-Eastern Africa and the Middle East, suggests a climatic link between the eastern and south-eastern regions of the Mediterranean Sea.