Proxy based reconstructions of late Miocene climatic and tectonic driven changes in the Eastern Mediterranean

Abstract

Eastern Mediterranean sediments consist largely of terrigenous material originating from North Africa and Europe. Changes in provenance are traced in the sedimentary archive of the Metochia section, using a combination of geochemical and environmagnetic proxies. The different source areas and the complicated interplay of the proxy parameters are unravelled using fuzzy c-means cluster analysis combined with nonlinear mapping. The cluster solution clearly reveals a shift in the paleoenvironmental conditions in North Africa from arid to more humid conditions at ~8.2 Ma is also identified. The late Miocene palaeoenvironmental conditions in North Africa are traced in the sedimentary archive of the Monte Gibliscemi section using geochemical proxies. The terrigenous input in the section is dominated by material from North Africa. The proxy parameters indicate that the palaeoenvironmental conditions in North Africa were humid from 9.5 Ma with a comparatively high fluvial input to the Eastern Mediterranean. Tectonic reorganisations of the Mediterranean Atlantic gateways pertaining to the Betic and Rifian corridors occurred, initiated at ~8.4 Ma.