A stalactite record of four relative sea-level highstands during the Middle Pleistocene Transition

Paolo Stocchi; Fabrizio Antonioli; Paolo Montagna; Fabrizio Pepe; Valeria Lo Presti; Antonio Caruso; Marta Corradino; Gino Dardanelli; Pietro Renda; Norbert Frank; Eric Douville; François Thil; Bas de Boer; Rosario Ruggieri; Rosanna Sciortino; Catherine Pierre

doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2017.08.008

A stalactite record of four relative sea-level highstands during the Middle Pleistocene Transition

Paolo Stocchi^*, Fabrizio Antonioli, Paolo Montagna, Fabrizio Pepe, Valeria Lo Presti, Antonio Caruso, Marta Corradino, Gino Dardanelli, Pietro Renda, Norbert Frank, Eric Douville, François Thil, Bas de Boer, Rosario Ruggieri, Rosanna Sciortino, Catherine Pierre

^*Corresponding author for this work

Earth and Climate

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Ice-sheet and sea-level fluctuations during the Early and Middle Pleistocene are as yet poorly understood. A stalactite from a karst cave in North West Sicily (Italy) provides the first evidence of four marine inundations that correspond to relative sea-level highstands at the time of the Middle Pleistocene Transition. The speleothem is located ∼97 m above mean sea level as result of Quaternary uplift. Its section reveals three marine hiatuses and a coral overgrowth that fixes the age of final marine ingression at 1.124 ± 0.2, thus making this speleothem the oldest stalactite with marine hiatuses ever studied to date. Scleractinian coral species witness light-limited conditions and water depth of 20–50 m. Integrating the coral-constrained depth with the geologically constrained uplift rate and an ensemble of RSL scenarios, we find that the age of the last marine ingression most likely coincides with Marine Isotope Stage 35 on the basis of a probabilistic assessment. Our findings are consistent with a significant Antarctic ice-sheet retreat.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	92-100
Number of pages	9
Journal	Quaternary Science Reviews
Volume	173
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2017.08.008
Publication status	Published - 1 Oct 2017

Funding

We are thankful to David Richards, Christian Ohneiser and Enrico Di Stefano for their helpful comments. This work was partly financially supported by the grant “ Fondo Finalizzato alla Ricerca 2012/2013 ( CUP B71J12001450001 )” funded by the University of Palermo (Italy) . Bas de Boer is funded by NWO Earth and Life Sciences (ALW), project 863.15.019.

Funders	Funder number
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek	863.15.019
Università degli Studi di Palermo

Keywords

Sr/Sr ages
Corals
Interglacial(s)
Pleistocene
Sea level changes
Speleothems
Stable isotopes
U-Th dating
Western Europe

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.quascirev.2017.08.008

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Stocchi, P., Antonioli, F., Montagna, P., Pepe, F., Lo Presti, V., Caruso, A., Corradino, M., Dardanelli, G., Renda, P., Frank, N., Douville, E., Thil, F., de Boer, B., Ruggieri, R., Sciortino, R., & Pierre, C. (2017). A stalactite record of four relative sea-level highstands during the Middle Pleistocene Transition. Quaternary Science Reviews, 173, 92-100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2017.08.008

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title = "A stalactite record of four relative sea-level highstands during the Middle Pleistocene Transition",

abstract = "Ice-sheet and sea-level fluctuations during the Early and Middle Pleistocene are as yet poorly understood. A stalactite from a karst cave in North West Sicily (Italy) provides the first evidence of four marine inundations that correspond to relative sea-level highstands at the time of the Middle Pleistocene Transition. The speleothem is located ∼97 m above mean sea level as result of Quaternary uplift. Its section reveals three marine hiatuses and a coral overgrowth that fixes the age of final marine ingression at 1.124 ± 0.2, thus making this speleothem the oldest stalactite with marine hiatuses ever studied to date. Scleractinian coral species witness light-limited conditions and water depth of 20–50 m. Integrating the coral-constrained depth with the geologically constrained uplift rate and an ensemble of RSL scenarios, we find that the age of the last marine ingression most likely coincides with Marine Isotope Stage 35 on the basis of a probabilistic assessment. Our findings are consistent with a significant Antarctic ice-sheet retreat.",

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author = "Paolo Stocchi and Fabrizio Antonioli and Paolo Montagna and Fabrizio Pepe and {Lo Presti}, Valeria and Antonio Caruso and Marta Corradino and Gino Dardanelli and Pietro Renda and Norbert Frank and Eric Douville and Fran{\c c}ois Thil and {de Boer}, Bas and Rosario Ruggieri and Rosanna Sciortino and Catherine Pierre",

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Stocchi, P, Antonioli, F, Montagna, P, Pepe, F, Lo Presti, V, Caruso, A, Corradino, M, Dardanelli, G, Renda, P, Frank, N, Douville, E, Thil, F, de Boer, B, Ruggieri, R, Sciortino, R & Pierre, C 2017, 'A stalactite record of four relative sea-level highstands during the Middle Pleistocene Transition', Quaternary Science Reviews, vol. 173, pp. 92-100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2017.08.008

TY - JOUR

T1 - A stalactite record of four relative sea-level highstands during the Middle Pleistocene Transition

AU - Stocchi, Paolo

AU - Antonioli, Fabrizio

AU - Montagna, Paolo

AU - Pepe, Fabrizio

AU - Lo Presti, Valeria

AU - Caruso, Antonio

AU - Corradino, Marta

AU - Dardanelli, Gino

AU - Renda, Pietro

AU - Frank, Norbert

AU - Douville, Eric

AU - Thil, François

AU - de Boer, Bas

AU - Ruggieri, Rosario

AU - Sciortino, Rosanna

AU - Pierre, Catherine

PY - 2017/10/1

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N2 - Ice-sheet and sea-level fluctuations during the Early and Middle Pleistocene are as yet poorly understood. A stalactite from a karst cave in North West Sicily (Italy) provides the first evidence of four marine inundations that correspond to relative sea-level highstands at the time of the Middle Pleistocene Transition. The speleothem is located ∼97 m above mean sea level as result of Quaternary uplift. Its section reveals three marine hiatuses and a coral overgrowth that fixes the age of final marine ingression at 1.124 ± 0.2, thus making this speleothem the oldest stalactite with marine hiatuses ever studied to date. Scleractinian coral species witness light-limited conditions and water depth of 20–50 m. Integrating the coral-constrained depth with the geologically constrained uplift rate and an ensemble of RSL scenarios, we find that the age of the last marine ingression most likely coincides with Marine Isotope Stage 35 on the basis of a probabilistic assessment. Our findings are consistent with a significant Antarctic ice-sheet retreat.

AB - Ice-sheet and sea-level fluctuations during the Early and Middle Pleistocene are as yet poorly understood. A stalactite from a karst cave in North West Sicily (Italy) provides the first evidence of four marine inundations that correspond to relative sea-level highstands at the time of the Middle Pleistocene Transition. The speleothem is located ∼97 m above mean sea level as result of Quaternary uplift. Its section reveals three marine hiatuses and a coral overgrowth that fixes the age of final marine ingression at 1.124 ± 0.2, thus making this speleothem the oldest stalactite with marine hiatuses ever studied to date. Scleractinian coral species witness light-limited conditions and water depth of 20–50 m. Integrating the coral-constrained depth with the geologically constrained uplift rate and an ensemble of RSL scenarios, we find that the age of the last marine ingression most likely coincides with Marine Isotope Stage 35 on the basis of a probabilistic assessment. Our findings are consistent with a significant Antarctic ice-sheet retreat.

KW - Sr/Sr ages

KW - Corals

KW - Interglacial(s)

KW - Pleistocene

KW - Sea level changes

KW - Speleothems

KW - Stable isotopes

KW - U-Th dating

KW - Western Europe

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VL - 173

SP - 92

EP - 100

JO - Quaternary Science Reviews

JF - Quaternary Science Reviews

ER -

A stalactite record of four relative sea-level highstands during the Middle Pleistocene Transition

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

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