Climate-driven connectivity changes of the Black Sea since 430 ka: Testing a dual palynological and geochemical approach

Thomas M. Hoyle, Diksha Bista, Rachel Flecker, Wout Krijgsman, Francesca Sangiorgi*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

The Black Sea experienced multiple episodes of connection with both the Mediterranean and Caspian seas during the Quaternary. Global sea-level variation has been proposed as the main driver of changes in Mediterranean-Black Sea connectivity, while positive water budgets drove Caspian overspill. We present a new, two proxy, low-resolution record from the Black Sea that allows reconstruction of connectivity history from 430 to 50 ka: dinoflagellate cysts (dinocysts) provide direct evidence for properties of surface waters and strontium isotopes constrain the source(s) of water entering the basin. Dinocysts and 87Sr/86Sr suggest that the Black Sea was isolated from the Mediterranean during global sea-level lowstands associated with glacials MIS 4, 8 and 10. Both proxies also strongly suggest that marine (Mediterranean) water flowed into the Black Sea during the eustatic highstands associated with peak interglacials during MIS 5 and 9. However, while the contribution of marine waters during MIS 5e was similar to the present day, lower 87Sr/86Sr during MIS 9 suggests lower than present input. Connectivity during MIS 11, MIS 7 and MIS 6 is more enigmatic. Lower 87Sr/86Sr than those of the isolated Black Sea and dinocyst assemblages dominated by species of Paratethyan lineage are compatible with input from the Caspian Sea. Dinocyst taxa recovered in MIS 11 can be found in both the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea today. All four interglacials studied contain different dinocyst assemblages, suggesting that different conditions may have prevailed during each warm period. However, high-resolution studies are needed to confirm this observation. Further work on the same sequence could be valuable in elucidating the connectivity history of the Black Sea over the glacial-interglacial cycles of the late Quaternary.

Original languageEnglish
Article number110069
Pages (from-to)1-11
JournalPalaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
Volume561
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was part of the PRIDE project, which received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 642973 . Thanks to Holger Kuhlman for facilitating access to the cores and to Sergei Lazarev for help sampling. The authors are grateful to the editor, Prof. Thomas Algeo, and three anonymous reviewers, whose comments contributed to the improvement of the manuscript.

Funding Information:
This work was part of the PRIDE project, which received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sk?odowska-Curie grant agreement No 642973. Thanks to Holger Kuhlman for facilitating access to the cores and to Sergei Lazarev for help sampling. The authors are grateful to the editor, Prof. Thomas Algeo, and three anonymous reviewers, whose comments contributed to the improvement of the manuscript.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020

Funding

This work was part of the PRIDE project, which received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 642973 . Thanks to Holger Kuhlman for facilitating access to the cores and to Sergei Lazarev for help sampling. The authors are grateful to the editor, Prof. Thomas Algeo, and three anonymous reviewers, whose comments contributed to the improvement of the manuscript.

Keywords

  • Connectivity
  • Dinoflagellate cysts
  • Late Quaternary
  • Pontocaspian region
  • Strontium isotopes

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