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INIZIO_TESTO_DA_INDICIZZARE

RESEARCH PROGRAM

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Research Units
Similar research programs:
Scientific and education field classification
International Patent Classification
  • PHYSICS
    • HOROLOGY
      • TIME-INTERVAL MEASURING (measuring pulse characteristics G01R, e.g. G01R29/02; in radar or like systems G01S; masers H01S1/00; generation of oscillations H03B; generation or counting of pulses, frequency dividing, analogue/digital conversion H03K) [N: time fuzes F42C9/00]
    • MEASURING (counting G06M); TESTING
      • GEOPHYSICS; GRAVITATIONAL MEASUREMENTS; DETECTING MASSES OR OBJECTS (detecting or locating foreign bodies for diagnostic, surgical or person-identification purposes A61B; means for indicating the location of accidentally buried, e.g. snow-buried persons A63B29/02; investigating or analysing earth materials by determining their chemical or physical properties G01N; measuring electric or magnetic variables in general, other than direction or magnitude of the earth\'s field G01R; electronic or nuclear magnetic resonance arrangements G01R33/20; radar, sonar or analogous methods in general, detecting masses or objects involving these methods G01S)
      • INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIR CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES (separating components of materials in general B01D, B01J, B03, B07; apparatus fully provided for in a single other subclass, see the relevant subclass e.g. B01L; measuring or testing processes other than immunoassay, involving enzymes or micro-organisms C12M, C12Q; investigation of foundation soil in situ E02D1/00; sensing humidity changes for compensating measurements of other variables or for compensating readings of instruments for variations in humidity, see G01D or the relevant subclass for the variable measured; testing or determining the properties of structures G01M; measuring or investigating electric or magnetic properties of materials G01R; systems or methods in general, using reception or emission of radiowaves or other waves and based on propagation effects, e.g. Doppler effect, propagation time, direction of propagation, G01S; determining sensivity, graininess, or density of photographic materials G03C5/02; testing component parts of nuclear reactors G21C17/00; [N: controlling or regulating non-electric variables G05D; measuring degree of ionisation of ionised gases, i.e. plasma H05H1/00A; testing electrographic developer properties G03G15/08H6])
Geographical classification
Keywords
ECOBIOSTRATIGRAPHY; STABLE ISOTOPE; MICROPALEONTOLOGY; POLLENS; PALEOMAGNETISM; GEOCHIMIC

LATE QUATERNARY (0-450KA) HIGH-RESOLUTION RECONSTRUCTION OF THE PALEOCLIMATIC, PALEOCEANOGRAPHIC END ECO-BIOSTRATIGRAPHIC EVOLUTION OF THE MEDITERRANEAN BASIN ON THE BASIS OF FAUNAL, FLORISTIC, CHEMICAL AND ISTOTOPE PROXIES

Università degli Studi di Palermo
Abstract
The paleoenviromental and paleoclimatic conditions in the Mediterranean basin during four different time intervals (0-6000 ky BP; Holocene Climatic Optimum; Isotopic Stage 5e; Isotopic Stages 11 and 12) will be reconstructed, at decadal and/or millennial scale, on the base of the study of micropalentological (foraminifera, calcareous nannofossils, pollens), isotopic, geochemical, petrophisical, sedimentological and paleomagnetic data. The three oldest intervals are considered the best analogs to the present day climatic conditions and their future evolution. The detailed study of these four "temporal windows" will be preceded by a high resolution Event Stratigraphy recognizable, on the base of the same methodological approach reported above, in the 0-450 ky BP interval.

Principal Investigator
Rodolfo SPROVIERI Università degli Studi di PALERMO
Research Objectives
The objectives of this project can be grouped in two main areas of interest. On one hand, the project is designed to construct a detailed time framework for the time interval 0-450 Ka on the base of high resolution analyses of continuous sedimentary records recovered from the central Mediterranean. The obtained chronostratigraphy will provide a reliable time control of the climatic events recorded during the Late Quaternary in the Mediterranean area. On the other hand, a detailed study of selected sedimentary intervals deposited during periods characterised by environmental and climatic scenarios similar to the present-day conditions (0-6000 years BP, Holocene Optimum Climaticum , Isotope Substage 5e and isotope Stage 11 and 12) will provide useful information to test the future evolution of Earth's climate system.
The main goals of this research project are described as follows:
•definition of a detailed time-framework for the 0-450 ka time interval in the Mediterranean area on the basis of: i) integrated calcareous plankton (planktonic foraminifera and calcareous nannofossils) eco-biostratigraphy, ii) petrophysical analysis (mass and volume magnetic susceptivity, chromatic parameters, gamma-ray density), iii) analysis of the short-term variations of the paleomagnetic fields, iv) isotope stratigraphy and, for the Holocene interval, v) AMS 14C age and vi) sequence stratigraphy;
•analysis, of the main sub-Milankovitch climate events in the Mediterranean >>>

First Results
Sample collection. Preparation of samples for micropaleontology, stable isotopes, geochemical analyses and paleomagnetism.High resolution quantitative micropaleontological (planktonic foraminifera, calcareous nannofossil and bentic foraminifera) data, oxygen and carbon isotope data, geochemical and paleomagnetic data.Integration and correlation of all the data coming from the operative units. Ecobiostratigraphic recostruction of the time interval between 0 and 450 Ka BP, also on the bases of spectral analysis. Interpretation of the paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic evolution of all the time interval, with particular respect to the 4 "temporal window" described in the project. Papers preparation.

Timescale
24 months
National and international background
The acquisition of time-series aimed at better understanding the climate system and obtaining a more adequate forecast of its future evolution represents one of the most critical scientific issue today (e.g., Clark et al., 1999; IPCC, 2000). In spite of some incertitude concerning the reliability of paleodata and the results of model simulations (e.g., Hansen et al., 1984, Hoffert and Covey, 1992, Webb, 1998, Karl and Trenberth, 1999, IPCC, 2000), a large consensus exists that the past, on different time scales, provides us with the best way to analyse the dynamics of the terrestrial climate system under conditions different from the present day and to validate the numerical simulation of future climatic evolution (e.g., Montoya et al., 2003). Moreover, an accurate understanding of the natural terrestrial climatic responses to the complex system of the external forcing (e.g. variation of the solar constant, Milankovitch cyclicity, ocean/atmosphere system interactions) is a prerequisite to understand the effects of human activities on environmental systems. The intense scientific research carried out over the last two decades has shown that the astronomical theory of climate which suggests that the global climate evolution is orbitally paced, represents the best way to explain the succession of glacial-interglacial cycles (e.g., Broecker, 1984; Manabe and Broccoli, 1985; Broecker and Denton, 1990; Imbrie et al. 1992) and offers a basic frame to interpret the long-term >>>