Paleoceanographic Changes During the Late-Holocene in the Adriatic Sea (Centrale Mediterranean)

Sub-millennial scale variability during the last 6000 years is recognized in the planktic and benthic foraminifera records from sediment cores retrieved from the Centrai Adriatic shelf and the Southem Adriatic deep basin. The .5 180 shifl of benthic foraminifer B. marginata suggests an increase of dense water production around 7500 years BP with the onset of the modern routing of the North Adriatic Dense Water occurring before the end ofMediterranean Sapropel SI. After 5500 years BP, the northward intrusi an of the salty Levantine Intermediate Water (LIW) in the Mi d Adriatic slope basin (MAD) is recorded by the 6180 of intermediate-water dweller G. bulloides. During the late Holocene, short-lived episodes of increased runoff are indicated by J180 values of G. bulloides in the MAD with concurrent drops in G. sacculifer concentrati an, suggesting either increased fresh water input impacting the entirc water column (thereby forcing the LIW lo a deeper leve!) or reduced LIW formati an failing t o intrude the MAD slope basi n. Repeated abundance peaks of the planktic foraminifer Globigerinoides sacculifer represent warm-dry intervals, among which the Medieval Warm Peri od, the Roman Age, the late Bronze Age and the Copper Age. Moreover, the Little Ice Age (LIA) is approximatcd at the base by the Last Occurrence of G. sacculifer (550 years BP), and its two main (coldest) phases are recorded on ali the shelf cores by two peaks of the benthic foraminifer Valvulineria complanata.