Title: Climatic impact on terrestrial and marine realms of the eastern Mediterranean at the Plio-Pleistocene transition

Scientific Person in Charge: Massimiliano Ghinassi | Programme: PRIN 2022 - DM 104/22

Total Contribution € 51.054,00 | Project Duration: 24 months

An estimation of the response of natural systems to climate changes is crucial to predict future changes connected with the increasing anthropogenic pressures on the Earth system. A holistic investigation of physical and biotic responses to climate variations requires the analysis of a broad spectrum of scenarios to better link the observed changes with constrained climate fluctuations. The Plio-Pleistocene Transition (PPT; 2.4-2.7 Ma) is one of the more enigmatic and less understood time intervals of recent Earth history. In this scenario, assessing the impact of climate shift on both continental and marine environments is crucial to predicting changes in biota ecosystems and landscape modification. This project proposes a multidisciplinary investigation of successions accumulated at the PPT and aims to understand the efforts of climatic impact on terrestrial and marine realms of the eastern Mediterranean. Two marine records will be investigated, i.e., ODP Leg 160: Site 967 (south of Cyprus) and Site 964 (Ionian Basin), thanks to benthic and planktonic foraminifera, stable isotopes, palynological and magnetostratigraphic analysis. At the same time, the coeval continental Valimi Formation (Gulf of Corinth, Greece) will be investigated in terms of facies, stratigraphic, palynological, and magnetostratigraphic analysis. Marine and continental sequences will also be analyzed through chemical (XRF), magnetic susceptibility, and CaCO3 content. The combined analysis of these high-resolution and multidisciplinary datasets will allow a precise and reliable correlation between the study of continental and marine successions. This correlation will open enormous possibilities for understanding the resilience of past environments to climate changes and will contribute to provide solid insights to develop predictive climatic models, which will contribute to manage environmental dynamics expected to affect the Earth systems over the next years.