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The 4.2 ka BP Event in the Mediterranean region : An overview

Bini, Monica ; Zanchetta, Giovanni ; Perşoiu, Aurel ; Cartier, Rosine LU ; Català, Albert ; Cacho, Isabel ; Dean, Jonathan R. ; Di Rita, Federico ; Drysdale, Russell N. and Finnè, Martin , et al. (2019) In Climate of the Past 15(2). p.555-577
Abstract


The Mediterranean region and the Levant have returned some of the clearest evidence of a climatically dry period occurring around 4200 years ago. However, some regional evidence is controversial and contradictory, and issues remain regarding timing, progression, and regional articulation of this event. In this paper, we review the evidence from selected proxies (sea-surface temperature, precipitation, and temperature reconstructed from pollen, δ
18
O on speleothems, and δ
... (More)


The Mediterranean region and the Levant have returned some of the clearest evidence of a climatically dry period occurring around 4200 years ago. However, some regional evidence is controversial and contradictory, and issues remain regarding timing, progression, and regional articulation of this event. In this paper, we review the evidence from selected proxies (sea-surface temperature, precipitation, and temperature reconstructed from pollen, δ
18
O on speleothems, and δ
18
O on lacustrine carbonate) over the Mediterranean Basin to infer possible regional climate patterns during the interval between 4.3 and 3.8 ka. The values and limitations of these proxies are discussed, and their potential for furnishing information on seasonality is also explored. Despite the chronological uncertainties, which are the main limitations for disentangling details of the climatic conditions, the data suggest that winter over the Mediterranean involved drier conditions, in addition to already dry summers. However, some exceptions to this prevail - where wetter conditions seem to have persisted - suggesting regional heterogeneity in climate patterns. Temperature data, even if sparse, also suggest a cooling anomaly, even if this is not uniform. The most common paradigm to interpret the precipitation regime in the Mediterranean - a North Atlantic Oscillation-like pattern - is not completely satisfactory to interpret the selected data.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Climate of the Past
volume
15
issue
2
pages
23 pages
publisher
Copernicus GmbH
external identifiers
  • scopus:85063581946
ISSN
1814-9324
DOI
10.5194/cp-15-555-2019
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
d9ac69bd-28be-400a-8717-9c9b61695fdb
date added to LUP
2019-04-08 09:45:48
date last changed
2022-04-25 22:14:13
@article{d9ac69bd-28be-400a-8717-9c9b61695fdb,
  abstract     = {{<p><br>
                                                         The Mediterranean region and the Levant have returned some of the clearest evidence of a climatically dry period occurring around 4200 years ago. However, some regional evidence is controversial and contradictory, and issues remain regarding timing, progression, and regional articulation of this event. In this paper, we review the evidence from selected proxies (sea-surface temperature, precipitation, and temperature reconstructed from pollen, δ                             <br>
                            <sup>18</sup><br>
                                                         O on speleothems, and δ                             <br>
                            <sup>18</sup><br>
                                                         O on lacustrine carbonate) over the Mediterranean Basin to infer possible regional climate patterns during the interval between 4.3 and 3.8 ka. The values and limitations of these proxies are discussed, and their potential for furnishing information on seasonality is also explored. Despite the chronological uncertainties, which are the main limitations for disentangling details of the climatic conditions, the data suggest that winter over the Mediterranean involved drier conditions, in addition to already dry summers. However, some exceptions to this prevail - where wetter conditions seem to have persisted - suggesting regional heterogeneity in climate patterns. Temperature data, even if sparse, also suggest a cooling anomaly, even if this is not uniform. The most common paradigm to interpret the precipitation regime in the Mediterranean - a North Atlantic Oscillation-like pattern - is not completely satisfactory to interpret the selected data.                         <br>
                        </p>}},
  author       = {{Bini, Monica and Zanchetta, Giovanni and Perşoiu, Aurel and Cartier, Rosine and Català, Albert and Cacho, Isabel and Dean, Jonathan R. and Di Rita, Federico and Drysdale, Russell N. and Finnè, Martin and Isola, Ilaria and Jalali, Bassem and Lirer, Fabrizio and Magri, Donatella and Masi, Alessia and Marks, Leszek and Maria Mercuri, Anna and Peyron, Odile and Sadori, Laura and Sicre, Marie Alexandrine and Welc, Fabian and Zielhofer, Christoph and Brisset, Elodie}},
  issn         = {{1814-9324}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{03}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{555--577}},
  publisher    = {{Copernicus GmbH}},
  series       = {{Climate of the Past}},
  title        = {{The 4.2 ka BP Event in the Mediterranean region : An overview}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-555-2019}},
  doi          = {{10.5194/cp-15-555-2019}},
  volume       = {{15}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}