Mantle processes control plate tectonics and exert an influence on biogeochemical cycles. However, the proportion of mantle sampled in-situ is minimal, as it is buried beneath igneous crust and sediments. Here we report the lithological characteristics of two mantle sections from an embryonic ocean drilled by the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) in the Tyrrhenian Sea.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA high-resolution record of central Mediterranean Sea Surface Temperatures (SSTs) based on the alkenone UK'37 index and planktic δ18O values for the surface-dweller G. ruber has been reconstructed across the Pliocene/Pleistocene transition at Monte San Nicola (Sicily), reference area for the GSSP (Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point) of the Gelasian Stage. Spectral analyses indicate that the SST record is predominantly paced by a cyclicity in the ~47 kyr time domain, consistent with the obliquity driven glacial-interglacial variability that is expected to dominate in the interval of relevance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBaleen whales (Mysticeti) are major ecosystem engineers, thanks to their enormous size and bulk filter feeding strategy. Their signature gigantism is thought to be a relatively recent phenomenon, resulting from a Plio-Pleistocene mode shift in their body size evolution. Here, we report the largest whale fossil ever described: an Early Pleistocene (1.
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