Chemical analyses of the clay fraction in selected samples of Sediment core KS09 (Table 2)

A deep-sea core over 16 m long from the crestal area of the Mediterranean Ridge has been investigated with different techniques, including quantitative micropaleontology, stable isotopes (measured on the epipelagic species Globigerinoides ruber and on the mesopelagic species Globorotalia inflata), and clay mineralogy. The resulting record of climatic fluctuations can be cross correlated to other Mediterranean cores by means of isochronous lithologies (tephra layers and sapropels). The climatic record of the Mediterranean is similar in character, phase, and chronology to the records investigated in the equatorial Pacific and in the Caribbean. Isotope stages 1 to 17 have been recognized. Cyclically repeated stagnant cycles resulting in sapropel deposition complicate both the isotopic and the faunal signal. The isotopic investigations reveal that the temperature change in the surface layers of the eastern Mediterranean was no greater than 8°C in the late "glacial" Pleistocene. The chronostratigraphic and biostratigraphic interpretation of Core KS09 indicate that the mean sedimentation rate was 2.4 cm/1000 years, a value very close to the 2.5 cm/1000 years calculated for the entire Quaternary section at DSDP Site 125, also located in the crestal area of the Mediterranean Ridge in the Ionian Basin. The base of KS09 is likely to be very close to the Brunhes/Matuyama boundary dated at 0.7 my.

Isotopic ratios and concentrations for mineral-associated and particulate organic fractions of sediment core Wilson_Lake samples

The flux of sediment and organic carbon from continents to the coastal ocean is an important factor governing organic burial in coastal sediments, and these systems preserve important records of environmental and biogeochemical conditions during past global change events. Burial of organic materials in coastal systems can be promoted by chemical resilience or through protection by association with mineral surfaces, but the role and influence of these processes on organic records from ancient sediments is poorly known. We studied sediment and organic matter burial as particulate organic matter (POM) and mineral-bound organic matter (MOM) in near-shore marine sediments from the Wilson Lake core (New Jersey, USA) that span the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum (PETM), a climatic perturbation 55.9 Myr ago. Our results show that distinct POM and MOM fractions can be isolated from sediments. Both fractions appear to be dominated by terrestrial material, but POM consisted primarily of recently synthesized material whereas MOM included a significant fraction of pre-aged organic matter from soils or ancient sediments. Variation in organic burial through the PETM is associated with changes in inorganic nitrogen burial, clay mineralogy, and clastic grain size that we associate with enhanced continental weathering, erosion and redeposition of ancient kaolinites, and eustatic sea level variation, respectively. These results provide a new perspective on factors governing carbon burial and carbon isotope records in ancient marine margin settings and offer information on rate and phasing of late Paleocene/early Eocene Earth system changes that may constrain interpretations of the cause of the PETM climate change event.