Registro del evento 8.2 ka en la plataforma continental de Alicante (SE, España)

High resolution seismic profiles of the Alicante continental shelf have been studied identifying a seismic prism which top at about -20 m below today sea-level. The prism is covered by recent sediments and can be interpreted as formed during a short interval of stand-by in the general transgression after the last glacial maximum. The -20 m level have been compared with the holocene Mediterranean sea-level-curve to propose an age of about 8 ka BP coinciding with the «8.2 ka cooling event» that was an abrupt, widespread climate instability. The prism top is deeper in the northern seismic profiles thus indicating a more subsidence that the southern coastal shelf where an erosion surface with rocky shoals configure the sea bottom.

El prisma sedimentario submarino ligado al Younger Dryas en la plataforma continental de Benidorm (Alicante, SE de España)

Con el objetivo de ampliar los conocimientos en relación a los cambios recientes del nivel en la plataforma continental de Alicante se ha procedido al estudio de diferentes perfiles sísmicos de alta resolución. En el presente trabajo se ha identificado un prisma sedimentario cuyo techo se ubica alrededor de los 60 metros por debajo del nivel del mar actual. Comparando los resultados con la curva de variaciones del nivel del mar de los últimos 20 milenios, se puede confirmar que éste se formó durante un periodo en que el nivel del mar permaneció relativamente constante o disminuyó levemente entre el final del Bølling Warming y tras el evento frío Younger Dryas. Un total de tres unidades sísmicas (1, 2 y 3 de base a techo) se pueden diferenciar en el prisma. La subunidad 1, depositada entre el final del Bølling Warming y antes del Younger Dryas, indicando una mayor ralentización de la tasa de ascenso del nivel del mar. La subunidad 2, formada durante el evento frío Younger Dryas, reflejando un episodio de detención del nivel del mar alrededor de los 60 metros, seguido de una caída relativa mismo. La subunidad 3, formada tras este periodo frío y que se caracteriza por un incremento de la tasa de ascenso del nivel del mar.

Compositional and Geochemical Signatures for the Sedimentary Evolution of the Middle Triassic–Lower Jurassic Continental Redbeds from Western-Central Mediterranean Alpine Chains

Compositional and chemical analyses suggest that Middle Triassic–Lower Liassic continental redbeds (in the internal domains of the Betic, Maghrebian, and Apenninic chains) can be considered a regional lithosome marking the Triassic-Jurassic rift-valley stage of Tethyan rifting, which led to the Pangaea breakup and subsequent development of a mosaic of plates and microplates. Sandstones are quartzose to quartzolithic and represent a provenance of continental block and recycled orogen, made up mainly of Paleozoic metasedimentary rocks similar to those underlying the redbeds. Mudrocks display K enrichments; intense paleoweathering under a hot, episodically humid climate with a prolonged dry season; and sediment recycling. Redbeds experienced temperatures in the range of 100°–160°C and lithostatic/tectonic loading of more than 4 km. These redbeds represent an important stratigraphic signature to reconstruct a continental block (Mesomediterranean Microplate) that separated different realms of the western Tethys from Middle-Late Jurassic to Miocene, when it was completely involved in Alpine orogenesis.

Multidecadal variability of the continental precipitation annual amplitude driven by AMO and ENSO

As the water vapor content in the atmosphere scales with temperature, a warmer world is expected to feature an intensification of the hydrological cycle. Work to date has mainly focused on mean precipitation changes, whose connection to climatic modes is elusive at a global scale. Here we show that continental precipitation annual amplitude, which represents the annual range between minimum and maximum (monthly) rainfall, covaries with a linear combination of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation and low-frequency variations in the El Niño–Southern Oscillation on a decadal to multidecadal scale with a correlation coefficient of 0.92 (P<0.01). The teleconnection is a result of changes in moisture transport in key regions. Reported trends in the annual amplitude of global precipitation in recent decades need to be assessed in light of this substantial low-frequency variability, which could mask or enhance an anthropogenic signal in hydrological cycle changes.