Quaternary climatic control of biogenic magnetite production and eolian dust input in cores from the Mediterranean Sea

We report high-resolution magnetic measurements from two Mediterranean piston cores: LC07 (Sicily Strait) and LC10 (Ionian Sea). Magnetostratigraphic results and delta18O data provide age constraints for core LC07, where we investigate magnetic property variations for two age intervals (0-600 kyr and 660-1020 kyr). For core LC10, rock magnetic parameters appear to be climatically controlled and are used to derive an astronomically tuned age model for the interval between 780 and 1200 kyr. In core LC07, the dominant control on the magnetic properties appears to be glacial-interglacial variations in the concentration of biogenic magnetite. In addition, an increased contribution from high coercivity minerals (e.g. hematite and/or goethite) probably reflects an enhanced eolian input during glacial periods. Climatic control of magnetotactic bacterial populations has been previously suggested in other environments, but this is the first such report from the Mediterranean. In contrast, the rock magnetic response to Quaternary climatic variability in core LC10 seems to be better expressed by variations in the concentration of high coercivity magnetic minerals. The contrast between a dominantly detrital/eolian flux and a dominantly biogenic flux at the same time for the two Mediterranean settings might relate to the presence of an active current regime in the Sicily Strait, which might decrease delivery of an eolian component to the seafloor compared to the deep Ionian Sea.