A faithful sea. The religious cultures of the mediterranean, 1200-1700. Edited by Adnan A. Husain and K.E. Fleming, Oneworld Publications, Oxford, 2007.ISBN: 1851684964 / 1-85168-496-4, 226 p.

Fil: Samsó, Fernanda. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras

Composition of Upper Quaternary bottom sediments from the Syrian area of the Mediterranean Sea

Results of a lithological study of bottom sediments in the Syrian region of the Mediterranean Sea during Cruise 27 of R/V Vityaz (1993) are reported. Suspended sediment discharge of the Nile River are of the greatest importance for terrigenous sedimentation in the SE part of the Mediterranean Sea, especially in deep-sea areas. Suspended load entering from the Syrian catchment area plays an important role in formation of recent shelf and slope deposits. Supply of aerosols from Syrian and Arabian deserts was distinguished by the patchiness of surface distribution of quartz. During Late Quaternary accumulation of terrigenous material supplied from both the Syrian and the Nile drainage areas was irregular. Sedimentation was remarkably enhanced during sapropel formation 7000-9000 years BP.

Late Pliocene stable oxygen isotope record of the Mediterranean Sea

Detailed pollen analyses and oxygen isotope records of three foraminiferal species, Globigerina bulloides, Uvigerina peregrina and Cibicides pachyderma, from the Semaforo and Vrica composite sections (Crotone, southern Italy) have been compared to the global climatic changes depicted by late Pliocene-early Pleistocene foraminiferal d18O records of Site 607 in the North Atlantic, and Hole 653A in the Tyrrhenian basin, West Mediterranean. Major overturns in the mid-altitude vegetation are shown near isotopic stages 82, 60, 58 and 50, at about 2.03 Ma, 1.6 Ma and 1.37 Ma according to the Raymo et al. (1989, doi:10.1029/PA004i004p00413) and Ruddiman et al. (1989, doi:10.1029/PA004i004p00353) timescales. At the same dates, glacial 18O maxima either became higher or display step increases in the western Mediterranean or in the open ocean as well. This suggests that size increases of Northern Hemisphere ice sheets were the driving factor for regional or local marine and continental environmental changes within the Mediterranean basin. Near isotopic stages 62-60, close to the conventional Plio-Pleistocene boundary, the climatic conditions severed enough within the Mediterranean basin to modify the continental environment, as depicted by a sudden increase of Artemisia percentages, while the first significant southward migration of the North Polar Front may have been recorded by an influx of left coiling Neogloboquadrina pachyderma in the central Mediterranean. It also appears that 'Boreal Guests' entered the Mediterranean during phases of 18O enrichment of foraminiferal calcite. There does not seem to be any discrepancy between the climatic concept of the Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary and its chronostratigraphic definition.