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the Alps in the Mediterranean region. There are good reasons for this. It can be
argued that the Mediterranean has the best set of long-term terrestrial Quaternary
records in Europe if not the rest of the world (Woodward, 2009). The region con-
tains distinctive tectonic settings with long-term sediment sinks spanning multiple
glacial-interglacial cycles and, in some cases, all of the Quaternary. The long lake
sediment records, for example, can be compared directly with the marine archive
(Tzedakis et al., 1997) and because the region lay south of the major European ice
sheets, many of these sedimentary records are continuous and well preserved. An
added advantage is the fact that the geology of the region offers many opportunities
for dating and often at better resolution than in other parts of Europe. The wide-
spread occurrence of limestone, for example, has produced karstic features and
secondary carbonates that can be dated using uranium-series methods and this has
produced new insights into the glacial records for example (Woodward et al., 2004;
Hughes et al., 2006). The presence of explosive volcanic centres has spread volcanic
ash (tephra) over wide areas (Narcisi and Vezzoli, 1999; Wulf et al., 2004) and this
material can be dated directly. Tephras can be used to correlate between records
that are many hundreds of kilometres apart and they have even been found in Upper
Palaeolithic rockshelter sediment records in Greece (Farrand, 2000) and Montene-
gro (Brunnacker, 1966).
Parts of the Mediterranean region formed important refugia for tree species
during cold stages of the Pleistocene. When climate ameliorated and trees were able
to expand their ranges from refugial centres, the long pollen records show that they
were able to do this very rapidly (fi gure 13.6). In contrast to areas much further to the
north, this created a much more dynamic Pleistocene geography. Allen et al. (1999)
have examined the long lake sediment record from Lago Grande di Monticchio
in southern Italy. This record covers the last 102,000 years and it shows a series of
rapid environmental changes during the last cold stage that correlate well with the
Greenland ice core records. This is a sensitive, high-resolution record that allows
centennial to millennial scale climate variability to be examined. Rapid vegetation
changes took place in this region during the last cold stage over timescales of less than
200 years. This a key terrestrial archive of environmental change in southern Europe
for the last glacial cycle. Allen et al. (1999) show very clearly that the terrestrial
biosphere was a full participant in these rapid fl uctuations and they conclude that:
the closely coupled ocean-atmosphere system of the Northern Hemisphere during the
last glacial extended its infl uence at least as far as the central Mediterranean region
The marine sedimentary record in the Mediterranean is also a very distinctive
archive of environmental change that is linked directly to the North Atlantic via
water exchange at the Straits of Gibraltar. The Mediterranean Sea is a relatively
small body of water in the global ocean system, but it is very sensitive to environ-
mental change and the high sedimentation rates in the basin form excellent records
of change (Cacho et al., 1999). It is now well established that the impact of Heinrich
Events is clearly recorded in the western Mediterranean basin because cold North
Atlantic waters entered the basin via the Straits of Gibraltar and the regional climate
became cooler and drier during these periods. Figure 13.6a shows two parameters
from the marine archive in the western Mediterranean that record the impact of
Heinrich Events very clearly. These cooling and drying episodes placed great stresses
on terrestrial ecosystems and the pollen records from several sites in the Mediter-
ranean show that tree cover contracted rapidly during these periods. Three long
pollen records from basins in contrasting settings in Greece are shown in fi gure
