Foraminiferal ecozones, a high resolution proxy for the late Quaternary biochronology in the central Mediterranean Sea

• Published in: Marine geology Vol. 153; no. 1; pp. 253 - 274
• Main Authors: Capotondi, Lucilla, Maria Borsetti, Anna, Morigi, Caterina
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 1999
• Subjects: 14C dating; central Mediterranean Sea; ecozone; late Quaternary; oxygen isotope record; planktic foraminifera; MED; late Quaternary; planktic foraminifera; oxygen isotope record; 14C dating; central Mediterranean Sea; ecozone
• ISSN: 0025-3227; 1872-6151
• DOI: 10.1016/S0025-3227(98)00079-6

The planktic foraminiferal distribution identified in 60 cores collected in different basins of the Mediterranean Sea allowed to establish an ecostratigraphical scheme which provides a very important tool for the biochronological subdivision of the uppermost Quaternary. We identified a succession of ten ecozones during the last 23 ka in the Tyrrhenian basin and eight ecozones in the Adriatic Sea during the last 15 ka. The ecozones boundaries have been calibrated by 14C AMS radiometric data and by the stable oxygen isotope record. The chronological framework defined by the successive bioevents shows a very high resolution (millenary scale) and evidences that the changes in the planktic microfauna occurred more or less synchronously throughout the central Mediterranean Sea. Differences due to different oceanographic settings of the basins do not affect the general distributional pattern of planktic foraminifera.