Chronology of the Mediterranean sea‐level highstand during the Last Interglacial: a critical review of the U/Th‐dated deposits

• Published in: Journal of quaternary science 2021-10, Vol.36 (7), p.1174-1189
• Main Authors: Pasquetti, Francesca, Bini, Monica, Giaccio, Biagio, Ratti, Andrea, Vacchi, Matteo, Zanchetta, Giovanni
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Corals; Evolution; Geochronology; Last Interglacial highstand; Mediterranean Sea; Mollusks; sea‐level changes; Shellfish; Stratigraphy; Tyrrhenian; U/Th dating
• ISSN: 0267-8179; 1099-1417
• DOI: 10.1002/jqs.3359

ABSTRACT Relative sea‐level (RSL) evolution during Marine Isotopic Stage (MIS) 5 in the Mediterranean basin is still not fully understood despite a plethora of morphological, stratigraphic and geochronological studies carried out on highstand deposits of this area. In this review we assembled a database of 323 U/Th‐dated samples (e.g. corals, molluscs, speleothems) which were used to chronologically constrain RSL evolution within MIS 5. The application of strict geochemical criteria to the U/Th samples indicates that only ~33% of data available for the Mediterranean Sea can be considered ‘reliable’. Most of these data (~65%) refer to the MIS 5e highstand, while only ~17% could be related to the MIS 5a. No attribution to MIS 5c can be unequivocally supported. Nevertheless, the resulting framework does not allow us to define a satisfactory RSL trend during the MIS 5e highstand and subsequent MIS 5 substages. Overall, the proposed selection of reliable/unreliable data would be useful for detecting areas where MIS 5 substage attributions are not supported by confident U/Th chronological data and thus the related reconstructions need to be revised. In this regard, the resulting framework calls for a reappraisal and re‐examination of the Mediterranean records with advanced geochronological methodologies.