Late Pliocene climate variability on Milankovitch to millennial time scales: A high-resolution study of MIS100 from the Mediterranean

The high-frequency climate variability is less clear at Site 967, indicating that the eastern Mediterranean was probably less sensitive to surface water cooling and the influence of the Atlantic climate system. Concomitant changes in the colour reflectance of ODP Site 967 and the calcium carbonate record of San Nicola probably indicate that part of the high-frequency climate variability (3-5 kyr) in the eastern Mediterranean is related to changes in Saharan dust supply. Evidently, enhanced dust deposition in the Mediterranean correlates with the cold intervals of the millennial-scale D-O oscillations suggesting that the Atlantic pressure system may have played a critical role in varying the wind strength and/or aridification of northern Africa.