Mediterranean climate variability during the Holocene

Casford, J.S.L.; Abu-Zied, R.; Rohling, E.J.; Cooke, S.; Boessenkool, K.P.; Brinkhuis, H.; De Vries, C.; Wefer, G.; Geraga, M.; Papatheodorou, G.; Croudace, I.; Thomson, J.; Lykousis, V.

Mediterranean climate variability during the Holocene

Casford, J.S.L.; Abu-Zied, R.; Rohling, E.J.; Cooke, S.; Boessenkool, K.P.; Brinkhuis, H.; De Vries, C.; Wefer, G.; Geraga, M.; Papatheodorou, G.; Croudace, I.; Thomson, J.; Lykousis, V.

Authors

J.S.L. Casford

R. Abu-Zied

E.J. Rohling

S. Cooke

K.P. Boessenkool

H. Brinkhuis

C. De Vries

G. Wefer

M. Geraga

G. Papatheodorou

I. Croudace

J. Thomson

V. Lykousis

Abstract

We present a study on four high sedimentation-rate marine cores with suppressed bioturbation effects, recovered along the northern margin of the eastern Mediterranean. We demonstrate that this region, central to the development of modern civilisation, was substantially affected throughout the Holocene by a distinct cycle of cooling events on the order of 2o C. In the best-preserved cases the onset of these events appears particularly abrupt, within less than a century. The cooling events typically lasted several centuries, and there are compelling indications that they were associated with increased aridity in the Levantine/NE African sector (Rossignol-Strick, 1995; 1998; Alley et al., 1997; Hassan, 1986; 1996; 1997a,b; McKim Malville et al., 1998). Several of these episodes appear coincident with cultural reorganisations, with indigenous developments (eg. cattle domestication, new technologies) and population migrations and fusion of peoples and ideas (Hassan, 1986; 1996; 1997a,b; McKim Malville, 1998). We infer that climatic events of a likely high-latitude origin (O’Brien et al., 1995; Bond et al., 1997; Mayewski et al., 1997; Alley et al., 1997) caused cooling and aridity in and around the eastern Mediterranean via a direct atmospheric link, and therefore played an important role in the development of modern civilisation.

Citation

Casford, J., Abu-Zied, R., Rohling, E., Cooke, S., Boessenkool, K., Brinkhuis, H., …Lykousis, V. (2001). Mediterranean climate variability during the Holocene. Mediterranean Marine Science, 2(1), 45-55

Journal Article Type	Article
Publication Date	2001-06
Deposit Date	Feb 8, 2008
Publicly Available Date	Feb 8, 2008
Journal	Mediterranean Marine Science
Print ISSN	1108-393X
Publisher	Hellenic Centre for Marine Research
Peer Reviewed	Not Peer Reviewed
Volume	2
Issue	1
Pages	45-55
Keywords	Climatic variability, Palaeoceanography, Aegean, Holocene, Foraminifera, Stable isotopes.
Publisher URL	http://www.medit-mar-sc.net/contents/vol_2_1/a215.html