Variability in the vertical structure of the water column and paleoproductivity reconstruction in the central-western Mediterranean during the Late Pleistocene

A sedimentary sequence spanning Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6 to MIS 2 in core LC07, recovered in the central Mediterranean, has been investigated in order to produce a high-resolution paleoceanographic reconstruction. The changes in productivity deduced from calcareous plankton relative abundances and independently confirmed by the BaXS fluctuations are linked to the stability of the water column which is mainly controlled by the water mass temperature. During glacial intervals, productivity was generally enhanced. Oligotrophic and warmer water masses with a deepened seasonal thermocline can be inferred for most of MIS5. The magnetic properties of the sediment show increased occurrences of North Africa dust in the central Mediterranean during cold phases, likely as a consequence of a more efficient erosive process triggered by southward displacement of the intertropical convergence zone. Although increases in both productivity and Saharan dust occurred during cold periods, the atmospheric inputs do not seem to contribute significantly to the fertilization of primary producers. A Shannon Index curve has been used to tentatively synthesize the variations of calcareous nannofossil assemblages through the last 150 kyr. The assemblage diversity sharply increased coincident with the transition from the penultimate glacial to the last interglacial, subsequently low diversity was gradually reached again in the last glacial.