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The 4.2 ka Event in the Euro-Mediterranean Region—A Study from the MISTRALS/PALEOMEX Program

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Patterns and Mechanisms of Climate, Paleoclimate and Paleoenvironmental Changes from Low-Latitude Regions (CAJG 2018)

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Abstract

High-resolution records documenting the 4.2 ka event (from 4200 to 3900 cal yr BP) are scarce. Archaeological and paleoenvironmental data from continental archives suggest that this event is coincident with a megadrought in the eastern Mediterranean basin. Here, we present an unprecedented high-resolution alkenone-based sea surface temperature (SST) record from the northwestern Mediterranean Sea showing a stepwise cooling of ca. 2 °C between 4400 and 3800 yr BP, which shares similarities with speleothem records from central Europe and the Mediterranean region. Our data suggest a reorganization of the North Atlantic atmospheric circulation during this event.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the MISTRALS/PALEOMEX program and ANR HAMOC (ANR-13-BS06-0003) for financial support.

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Correspondence to Bassem Jalali .

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Jalali, B., Sicre, MA. (2019). The 4.2 ka Event in the Euro-Mediterranean Region—A Study from the MISTRALS/PALEOMEX Program. In: Zhang, Z., Khélifi, N., Mezghani, A., Heggy, E. (eds) Patterns and Mechanisms of Climate, Paleoclimate and Paleoenvironmental Changes from Low-Latitude Regions. CAJG 2018. Advances in Science, Technology & Innovation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01599-2_3

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