Establishment of high-resolution tephrostratigraphic correlations between marine (ODP Sites 964, 967 and 969) and terrestrial (Tenaghi Philippon) climate records in the Eastern Mediterranean region: towards determining leads and lags in abrupt climate cha

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The project aims to establish the first distal tephra correlations in the Eastern Mediterranean region for Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 12 and 11. This approach will provide robust chronologies and allow direct land-sea correlations, which are a prerequisite for determining leads and lags between marine and terrestrial components of the climate system. The project goals will be achieved via high-resolution analyses of macro- and notably cryptotephras from three ODP sites (Site 964 – Ionian Sea; Sites 969 and 967 – Levantine Sea) and one terrestrial record (Tenaghi Philippon, Greece). Specifically, the project will (i) unravel the spatiotemporal distribution of macro- and cryptotephras during MIS 12–11 in the Eastern Mediterranean region; (ii) establish direct land-sea correlations in the Eastern Mediterranean region, with a particular focus on critical time intervals within MIS 12 and 11. The selected records are particularly well suited for addressing the objectives of the proposed project because they (i) are continuous and span MIS 12–11 completely; (ii) are located downwind with regard to the major Eastern Mediterranean volcanic sources; (iii) preserve numerous tephra layers as shown by previous studies and the applicants’ work during the first two project years; and (iv) record pronounced signals of past abrupt climate change. In the here requested third project year, the project goal will be tackled through two work packages: WP1 will verify the positions of cryptotephras in the ODP Leg 160 cores using light microscopy, and determine their geochemical signature using electron and ion microprobe techniques; this will allow to identify the volcanic sources as well as a comparison with the detected cryptotephras at Tenaghi Philippon during the first phase of the project. WP1 will ultimately lead to the establishment of precise distal tephra correlations in the Eastern Mediterranean. WP2 will focus on the 40Ar/39Ar dating of tephras, the establishment of the first land-sea correlations in the Eastern Mediterranean region for MIS 12–11, and the assessment of leads and lags between marine and terrestrial components of the climate system. The outcome of the project will be a high-resolution tephrostratigraphy for the Eastern Mediterranean region during the most extreme glacial (MIS 12) and interglacial (MIS 11) of the Middle Pleistocene. Through the establishment of precise land-sea correlations between marine and terrestrial records, the project will contribute to a better understanding of the spatiotemporal pattern of short-term climate and environmental variability in the Eastern Mediterranean region.