Climate of the past 2500 years in the Gulf of Taranto, central Mediterranean Sea: A high-resolution climate reconstruction based on δ18O and δ13C of Globigerinoides ruber (white)

Abstract

We present a high-resolution isotope stratigraphy based on Globigerinoides ruber (white) over the past 2500 years in the Gulf of Taranto, central Mediterranean. G. ruber (white) reflects summer conditions in the Gulf of Taranto but is influenced by two major surface water masses: the Western Adriatic Current (WAC) and the Ionian Surface Water (ISW) and their variations on a decadal to multicentennial scale. Our analysis of the δ13C and δ18O of G. ruber (white) allows the distinction of several climatic periods: the ‘Roman Warm Period’ (RWP) (450–0 BC), with relatively wet and warm conditions and a higher influence of the WAC; the ‘Roman Classical Period’ (RCP) (AD 1–200) characterized by salinity increase resulting from circulation changes; the ‘Dark Ages Cold Period’ (DCP) (AD 500–750), where wetter conditions in the Gulf of Taranto region are coherent with an increase dominance of the WAC; the ‘Medieval Warm Period’ (MWP), with wet and warm conditions in the first, and a gradual drying in the second half; and finally, the transition from the MWP to the ‘Little Ice Age’ (LIA), which is characterized by continuing dry conditions.