TIMING, MODE AND TEMPO OF THE MAJOR CLIMATIC TRANSITIONS OF THE EARLY PLEISTOCENE: A CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN PERSPECTIVE

The primary objective of this thesis was to investigate the Central Mediterranean’s response to the critical climatic evolution of the Early Pleistocene (ca. 2.6 – 0.8 Ma). This period marks a crucial phase in the recent climate’s evolution, characterized by a strong intensification of the Northern Hemisphere Glaciation (NHG) and a progressive modification in the shape of the glacial-interglacial (G-I) cycles, both in terms of amplitude and duration. Three major climatic breakthroughs can be identified: the first around 2.6 Ma, close to the Pliocene/Pleistocene boundary, where the first triplet of severe glacial stages (MIS 100, 98, 96) were globally observed in sedimentary records; the second, around 2.1 – 1.8 Ma, near the Gelasian/Calabrian boundary with the so-called “first deep glaciations”; the third, also known as the “Early-Middle Pleistocene transition” (EMPT; approximately 1.2 - 0.6 Ma), representing the most recent thrust towards modern climatic conditions (G – I cycles: shift from 40 kyr to ca. 100 kyr duration). The Central Mediterranean region has always been acknowledged as the reference area for the Plio- Pleistocene stratigraphy, due to the remarkable exposures of expanded open-marine successions along the coasts of Southern Italy and its extreme sensitiveness towards both global and regional-local climatic changes. To address our goal, we aimed at reconstructing a continuous, high-resolution benthic δ18O record throughout the Lower Pleistocene of Southern Italy, with a special focus on the three major climatic intervals mentioned above. Additional paleoclimatic proxies were investigated to corroborate our record and reconstruct a robust and reliable chronological framework, including alkenones, planktic δ18O and calcareous nannofossils. This work not only contributes to improving our knowledge of the mechanism driving past climate changes, but also provides new insights into the short-term climate variability which we confirmed is a pervasive feature of the Early Pleistocene and may be of use for future climate forecasting.