Orbital and suborbital temperature variability in the central Mediterranean across the Pliocene/Pleistocene transition

A high-resolution record of central Mediterranean Sea Surface Temperatures (SSTs) based on the alkenone UK’37 index and planktic δ18O values for the surface-dweller G. ruber has been reconstructed across the Pliocene/Pleistocene transition at Monte San Nicola (Sicily), reference area for the GSSP (Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point) of the Gelasian Stage. Spectral analyses indicate that the SST record is predominantly paced by a cyclicity in the ~47 kyr time domain, consistent with the obliquity driven glacial-interglacial variability that is expected to dominate in the interval of relevance. In addition, two suborbital periodicities in the ~5 kyr and ~8 kyr time domains provide a pervasive spectral signal that proves to be especially strong during the MIS (Marine Isotope Stage) 100 glacial, at the inception of the Northern Hemisphere Glaciation. This high frequency climatic instability, a prominent feature of the early Gelasian, might reflect episodic events of massive disruption of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation with increased production of cold, low-salinity water masses in the North Atlantic. Alternatively, it may be interpreted as the resonance (i.e., harmonics) of the low-latitude precessional forcing in mid-latitude regions. Although the driving mechanisms of these processes remain largely unconstrained, our study emphasizes the role of the central Mediterranean as the main reference for high-resolution paleoclimatic studies in the Neogene and the Quaternary.