Globorotalia truncatulinoides in Central - Western Mediterranean Sea during the Little Ice Age

Abstract

Globorotalia truncatulinoides oscillations have been recorded from different marine sediment cores collected in the central and western Mediterranean Sea. The abundances of this species over the last 500 yrs. demonstrates its potential value as bio-indicator of particular oceanographic condition during the Maunder Minimum (MM) event of the Little Ice Age (LIA). The comparison between the G. truncatulinoides abundance patterns of the Balearic Basin, central and south Tyrrhenian Sea and central and eastern Sicily Channel allows to highlight a similar response of this species during the MM event in the central-western Mediterranean Sea. The ecological meanings of this species and its peculiar high abundance percentages in the total assemblages suggest the development of enhanced vertical mixing conditions during MM winter season with a strong advection of nutrients from the nutrient-rich deeper layers and enhances the productivity levels in the mixed layer. The intensified vertical mixing could be linked to persistence of an atmospheric blocking event recorded by several authors during the MM.