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Late Quaternary palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of sediment drift accumulation in the Malta Graben (central Mediterranean Sea)

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Abstract

The Malta Graben is a deep tectonic depression in the Sicily Channel, bounded by NW–SE normal faults and filled by thick Pliocene–Quaternary deposits. A previous analysis of a giant piston core (LC09) from the Malta Graben had revealed a wide range of sedimentary features (carbonate turbidites, bioturbated mud and scours), although the chronostratigraphic constraint of the stacking pattern has remained elusive. After establishing a reliable chronological framework based on seven radiocarbon dates for a shorter core from the Malta Graben (ANSIC03-735), a down-core analysis of planktonic foraminifer and coccolith abundance, stable isotopes and sediment grain size was carried out. Since the last glacial maximum, palaeoenvironmental conditions (surface fertility and deep chlorophyll maximum during the last glacial and the Younger Dryas; warm and oligotrophic water masses, with a deep nutricline and intense winter mixing during the Holocene) as well as selected calcareous plankton taxa trends and peaks seem to be similar to those reported for other central and western Mediterranean sites, possibly in spite of a unique response of these areas to late Quaternary climatic fluctuations. Four distinct layers, each tens of centimetres thick, are barren of foraminifers but not of coccoliths. Morphobathymetric data as well as new high-resolution and high-penetration seismic profiles show that prolonged contouritic activity has persisted on the western side of the Malta Graben. It is thus likely that layers barren of foraminifers are due to the overflow of fine-grained (clayey) material beyond drift channel dikes.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Burg Flemming, Monique Delafontaine and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments and suggestions. AS was funded by University of Palermo, grant PJ_AUTF_008539.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, della Vita e dell’Ambiente, Campus Scientifico Località Crocicchia, Università degli Studi di Urbino “Carlo Bo”, 61029, Urbino, Italy

    Serena Ferraro

  2. Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto per l’Ambiente Marino Costiero, Sezione Capo Granitola, Via del Mare 3, 91021, (Campobello di Mazara, Trapani), Torretta Granitola, Italy

    Serena Ferraro, Luigi Giaramita, Mario Sprovieri & Giorgio Tranchida

  3. Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e del Mare, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Via Archirafi 20-22, 90134, Palermo, Italy

    Attilio Sulli, Enrico Di Stefano, Alessandro Incarbona, Rodolfo Sprovieri & Elisabetta Zizzo

  4. Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA), Edifici Cn Campus de la UAB, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), 08193, Barcelona, Spain

    P. Graham Mortyn

  5. UAB, Department of Geography, Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), 08193, Barcelona, Spain

    P. Graham Mortyn

  6. Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto per l’Ambiente Marino Costiero, Calata Porta di Massa, interno porto di Napoli, 80133, Naples, Italy

    Renato Tonielli & Mattia Vallefuoco

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  1. Serena Ferraro
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Correspondence to Alessandro Incarbona.

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Ferraro, S., Sulli, A., Di Stefano, E. et al. Late Quaternary palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of sediment drift accumulation in the Malta Graben (central Mediterranean Sea). Geo-Mar Lett 38, 241–258 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00367-018-0534-x

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