Vegetation Composition in a Typical Mediterranean Setting (Gulf of Corinth, Greece) during Successive Quaternary Climatic Cycles

Author:

Kafetzidou Aikaterini1ORCID,Fatourou Eugenia1,Panagiotopoulos Konstantinos12ORCID,Marret Fabienne3,Kouli Katerina1ORCID

Affiliation:

1. Department of Geology and Geoenvironment, School of Science, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Panepistimiopolis, 15784 Zographou, Greece

2. Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, University of Cologne, Zülpicher Straße 49a, 50674 Cologne, Germany

3. School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 7ZT, UK

Abstract

The Gulf of Corinth is a semi-isolated basin in central Greece interrupting the Pindus Mountain Range, which nowadays is a biodiversity hotspot. Considering its key location, deep drilling was carried out within the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP; Expedition 381: Corinth Active Rift Development) aiming to improve our understanding of climatic and environmental evolution in the region. Here, we present a new long pollen record from a Mediterranean setting in the southernmost tip of the Balkan Peninsula recording the vegetation succession within the Quaternary. The Corinth pollen record shows no major shifts in arboreal pollen between glacial and interglacial intervals, while Mediterranean and mesophilous taxa remain abundant throughout the study interval. During interglacials, the most frequent reconstructed biomes are cool mixed evergreen needleleaf (CMIX) and deciduous broadleaf forests (DBWB), while graminoid with forb (GRAM) and xerophytic shrubs (XSHB) dominate within glacials. Our findings support the hypothesis that the study area was a significant refugium, providing suitable habitats for Mediterranean, mesophilous and montane trees during successive Quaternary climate cycles.

Funder

Hellenic Foundation of Research and Innovation

Publisher

MDPI AG

Subject

Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous),Earth-Surface Processes

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