A Window Into Eastern Mediterranean Productivity Conditions Over Three Pliocene Precession‐Forced Climate Cycles

Abstract

Here, we explore the importance of export productivity versus anoxia in the formation of sedimentary layers with enhanced total organic carbon (TOC) content. We use geochemical, sedimentological and micropaleontological records from two SW Sicily outcropping successions, Lido Rossello (LR) and Punta di Maiata (PM), over three Early Pliocene precession‐forced climate cycles (4.7–4.6 million years ago [Ma]). Gray marls, deposited during precession minima, show enhanced TOC in both records. We suggest that basin‐wide, low‐oxygenated bottom‐waters, resulting from freshwater‐induced stratification during precession minimum, was integral to preserving gray marl TOC. Furthermore, prolonged eastern Mediterranean stratification may have produced a deep chlorophyll maximum (DCM), leading to “shade‐flora” dominated productivity. The LR succession displays two unique laminated layers containing enhanced TOC. These laminations do not occur at specific times in the precession cycle or in time‐equivalent PM samples. They are likely to have been produced by an intermittent dysoxic/anoxic pool at LR, caused by a local depression, which enhanced TOC preservation. Consequently, the laminations provide a rare window into “true” eastern Mediterranean productivity conditions during precession maxima, as organic matter is typically poorly preserved during these period due to enhanced ventilation. The laminated “windows” indicate that eastern Mediterranean export productivity may not have been significantly lower during precession maxima compared to precession minima, as previously thought. During these periods, productivity conditions are likely to have been comparable to the modern eastern Mediterranean, with a spring‐bloom caused by enhanced winter/spring deep‐water mixing preceding a summer “shade‐flora” bloom caused by a summer‐stratification induced DCM.