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Climatic variability and anthropogenic signatures in the Gulf of Salerno (southern-eastern Tyrrhenian Sea) during the last half millennium

  • Land Sea Interaction in Campania (Italy)
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Abstract

The high-resolution study of sediment core C90-1 m collected at the continental shelf of the Gulf of Salerno (southern Tyrrhenian Sea) provides an excellent opportunity to show paleoenvironmental changes during the last 500 years induced by natural variability and human impact. Based on 210Pb and 137Cs measurements, the sedimentation rate results 0.20 cm/year for the last 100 years. The high sampling resolution (1 cm sample spacing) of core C90-1 m, 105 cm long, provides a time resolution of approximately 5 years/cm. Quantitative changes in the planktonic and benthonic foraminiferal assemblages combined with δ18O G.ruber variations allow to identify regional climatic and oceanographic signals. A significant turnover between herbivorous and opportunistic species and carnivorous planktonic foraminifera after the Maunder event suggests changes in river runoff and/or an increase in coastal flooding events in the studied area. Variations in the microfauna since 1940 yAD document environmental changes induced by the construction of a dam in the Sele River.

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Acknowledgments

Core C90-1 m was acquired in 2006 for the VULCOST project using the CNR-Thetis vessel. The authors thank Luca Maria Foresi and Maria Geraga for their valuable comments and suggestions and Sietske Batenburg for improving our English. Moreover, many thanks are given to Michele Iavarone for his isotope acquisition job and Antimo Angelino and Marina Iorio for the petrophysical analyses. The research was funded by the VULCOST project (chief Prof. Bruno D’Argenio). This paper is ISMAR-Bologna scientific contribution n. 1739.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Istituto per l’Ambiente Marino Costiero, CNR, Calata Porta di Massa, 80133, Napoli, Italy

    Mattia Vallefuoco, Fabrizio Lirer, Luciana Ferraro & Nicola Pelosi

  2. Istituto di Scienze Marine, CNR, Sezione Territoriale di Bologna, Via Gobetti 101, 40129, Bologna, Italy

    Lucilla Capotondi

  3. Istituto per l’Ambiente Marino Costiero, CNR, Via del Faro 3 Torretta Granitola (Campobello di Mazara), 91021, Trapani, Italy

    Mario Sprovieri

  4. Dipartimento di Geologia e Geodesia, Università di Palermo, Via Archirafi 22, 90123, Palermo, Italy

    Alessandro Incarbona

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  1. Mattia Vallefuoco
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  2. Fabrizio Lirer
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  3. Luciana Ferraro
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  4. Nicola Pelosi
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  5. Lucilla Capotondi
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  6. Mario Sprovieri
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  7. Alessandro Incarbona
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Correspondence to Mattia Vallefuoco.

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This paper is an outcome of the FISR project VECTOR (Vulnerability of the Italian coastal area and marine Ecosystem to Climate changes and their role in the Mediterranean carbon cycles), subproject VULCOST (VULnerability of COaSTal environments to climate changes) on: land sea interaction and costal changes in the Sele River plain, Campania.

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Vallefuoco, M., Lirer, F., Ferraro, L. et al. Climatic variability and anthropogenic signatures in the Gulf of Salerno (southern-eastern Tyrrhenian Sea) during the last half millennium. Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei 23, 13–23 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12210-011-0154-0

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