Stable isotope stratigraphy and chronology of Langhian marine records from St. Peter Pool section (central Mediterranean, Malta Island)

Biostratigraphic data (Foresi et al., 2011) suggest that the St. Peter's Pool sedimentary record spans a time interval of about 1.2 My (from 15.3 to 16.5 Ma). Oxygen and carbon stable isotope analyses performed on planktonic foraminifera Globigerinoides quadrilobatus (surface water proxy) and on benthic foraminifera Cibicidoides dutemplei (deep water proxy), show a good correlation with amplitude oscillation of the astronomical parameter of eccentricity. In particular, ? O G. quadrilobatus light values are in hase with eccentricity maxima and ? 13 C G. quadrilobatus maxima are in phase with 400-kyr eccentricity minima. Major increases in ? 13 C C. dutemplei record document the onset of the carbon isotope events CM3a, CM3b and CM4. In addition, the strong shift if ? 13 C benthic data from open ocean ODP-site 1146, dated about 15.6 Ma, is also ocumented in the St. Peter's Pool sedimentary record.