250 Million Years of Earth History in Central Italy: Celebrating 25 Years of the Geological Observatory of Coldigioco
Central Italy has been a cradle of geology for centuries. For more than 100 years, studies at the Umbria and Marche Apennines have led to new ideas and a better understanding of the past, such as the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary event, or the events across the Eocene-Oligocene transition from a greenhouse to an icehouse world. The Umbria-Marche Apennines are entirely made of marine sedimentary rocks, representing a continuous record of the geotectonic evolution of an epeiric sea from the Early Triassic to the Pleistocene. The book includes reviews and original research works accomplished with the support of the Geological Observatory of Coldigioco, an independent research and educational center, which was founded in an abandoned medieval hamlet near Apiro in 1992.
Implications for central Italy paleoclimate from 95,000 yr B.P. until the early Holocene as evident from Frasassi Cave speleothems
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Published:September 11, 2019
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CiteCitation
Gerhard Kudielka, Miryam Bar-Matthews, Mabs Gilmour, Avner Ayalon, Christian Koeberl, Alessandro Montanari*, 2019. "Implications for central Italy paleoclimate from 95,000 yr B.P. until the early Holocene as evident from Frasassi Cave speleothems", 250 Million Years of Earth History in Central Italy: Celebrating 25 Years of the Geological Observatory of Coldigioco, Christian Koeberl, David M. Bice
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ABSTRACT
In this study, we present a composite δ18O and δ13C record obtained from four speleothems from the Grotta Grande del Vento Cave, located within the Frasassi karst system, northeastern Apennines of central Italy. The ages were determined by U-series analysis, employing thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS), and the composite isotopic profile covers most of the time period from ca. 95,000 yr B.P. until ca. 10,000 yr B.P., including the last part of marine isotope stage (MIS) 5, most of the last glacial (MIS 4–2), and the earliest Holocene (MIS 1), with a hiatus lasting from ca. 65,000 to ca. 55,000 yr B.P. We compared this record with other speleothem records from the Eastern Mediterranean, with caves from western Portugal, with two marine records from the Eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea, and with the North Greenland Ice Core Project (NGRIP) ice-core record. The Frasassi speleothem record provides further insight for a wider regional understanding of the paleoclimate record through the discrepancies and similarities between the northeastern Apennines of central Italy and the Western, Eastern, and northeastern Mediterranean regions.
The time interval between ca. 86,000 and 83,000 yr B.P. shows low δ18O values in the Western and Eastern Mediterranean speleothems and the marine records. This period coincides with sapropel (S3) and is associated with increased hydrological activity and warming. On the other hand, Frasassi speleothem δ18O data do not show a similar low trend, suggesting that increased hydrological activity either did not reach the Frasassi region and/or the region received rainfall from other sources and/or the proportion of winter-summer rainfall was different.
Another interval in which different conditions prevailed in the Frasassi region is during the transition from MIS 5 to glacial MIS 4, from ca. 83,000 to 65,000 yr B.P., when Frasassi speleothem δ18O values decreased, whereas all other records show a clear increase in δ18O. Comparison with the NGRIP record suggests that Northern Hemisphere temperature changes are reflected in Frasassi speleothem δ18O fluctuations during this interval.
A major pronounced isotopic event associated with warming and pluvial conditions during the last glacial evident in the entire Mediterranean region between ca. 54,500 and 52,500 yr B.P. is recorded also in the Frasassi speleothem isotopic profile. This event is followed by a transition from wet and warm climatic conditions to cold conditions. The end of the last glacial is associated with climate instability, evident mainly from the very large oscillations in the Frasassi δ13C record. The transition from the last glacial to early Holocene is characterized by a decreasing trend in δ18O and a sharp increase in δ13C values.
- Apennines
- C-13/C-12
- carbon
- cave environment
- caves
- Cenozoic
- climate change
- East Mediterranean
- Europe
- Holocene
- isotope ratios
- isotopes
- Italy
- karst
- lower Holocene
- mass spectra
- Mediterranean region
- Mediterranean Sea
- MIS 2
- MIS 3
- MIS 5
- NGRIP
- O-18/O-16
- oxygen
- paleoclimatology
- Quaternary
- seasonal variations
- solution features
- Southern Europe
- spectra
- speleothems
- stable isotopes
- terrestrial environment
- thermal ionization mass spectra
- upper Quaternary
- uranium disequilibrium
- West Mediterranean
- Frasassi Cave
- Grotta Grande del Vento
- MIS 1
- MIS 4