Geochemical proxies of sea surface temperature from MIS 5e marine fossils in the Taranto Gulf (Ionian Sea, Southern Italy)

Pierluigi Santagati¹, Maria Pia Bernasconi¹, Mario Borrelli¹ & Edoardo Perri^1
1Università della Calabria - Dipartimento di Biologia, Ecologia e Scienze della Terra.
Corresponding author e-mail: pierluigi.santagati@unical.it

Well preserved fossil specimens of Thetystrombus latus, Spondylus gaederopus, Venus verrucosa, Pinna nobilis and Cladocora caespitosa, all coming from a MIS 5e fossiliferous calcarenite outcropping along the Mar Piccolo of Taranto coastline, were analyzed for trace elements and ∂¹⁸O and ∂¹³C isotopic composition in the carbonates of skeletons; with the aim to estimate the Sea Surface Temperature (SST) using different published equations. The adopted methods gave close values of the mean SST, even if with wide standard deviation values: 21.6 °C and of 21.1 °C, derived respectively from the Mg/Ca ratio of P. nobilis and from the Sr/ Ca ratio of C. caespitosa; 19.6 °C derived from the of C. caespitosa growth rate; 21.0 °C derived from the ∂¹⁸O. The similarity of these mean results could indicate that a moderate warming with an average of 2.8 °C, in respect to today, is the most likely climatic scenario of the Mar Piccolo of Taranto during the MIS 5e.

MIS 5e, Trace element analysis, Stable Isotope analysis, Palaeoclimate.