Calcarenite and sapropel deposition in the Mediterranean Pliocene: shallow‐ and deep‐water record of astronomically driven climatic events

Calcarenitic bodies punctuate the shallow‐water deposits of Plio‐Pleistocene Mediterranean basins. Their rhythmic stacking pattern and stratigraphic distribution suggest a close relationship with deep‐water sapropel cycles, whose development is controlled by periodic changes in the Earth's orbital parameters. Calcarenitic bodies occur as eccentricity‐controlled clusters (over periods of 100–400 kyr) showing a time‐correlation with sapropel clusters, starting from 3.1 Ma. Formation of individual calcarenites is possibly driven by obliquity and/or precession cyclicity. This has important implications both for an improved understanding of Mediterranean palaeoceanographic events and correlation of shallow‐ and deep‐water successions. The appearance of sapropel and calcarenitic clusters starting from 3.1 Ma suggests a direct link with the onset of Northern Hemisphere glaciation, which could be responsible for the amplification of oceanographic events within the Mediterranean.