Published January 1, 2009 | Version v1
Journal article Open

Late Pleistocene-Holocene evolution of the northern shelf of the Sea of Marmara

  • 1. ITU EMCOL, Fac Min, TR-34469 Istanbul, Turkey
  • 2. Columbia Univ, Lamont Doherty Earth Observ, New York, NY 10027 USA
  • 3. Inst Marine Geol, ISMAR CNR Bologna, Bologna, Italy
  • 4. IFREMER, Brest, France
  • 5. CEREGE, Aix En Provence, France

Description

Chirp sub-bottom profiling, multibeam bathymetric mapping and a combination of faunal and isotopic analysis of molluscs and foraminifera in sediment cores on the northern shelf of the Sea of Marmara (SoM) provide evidence of sea-level excursions, water exchanges between the adjacent Mediterranean and Black Seas, and oscillating salinity over the last 160 ka bp. During the marine isotope stages MIS-2, MIS-3, MIS-4 and MIS-6 the SoM disconnected from the Mediterranean Sea and evolved into a lake. During MIS-1, MIS-5 and MIS-7, the SoM reconnected and became salty once again. Sapropels formed shortly after each invasion of Mediterranean saltwater observed in our cores. Concurrent suboxic-dysoxic conditions prevailed over quite shallow substrates on the shelf.

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