El registro de fitolitos del testigo MD95-2043 entre 20000 y 5000 añosnuevos datos sobre la evolución climática del mar de Alborán

Abstract

This study focuses on the analysis and study of phytoliths pre-served in 37 sediment samples, corresponding to the period from the Last Glacial Maximum and the mid-Holocene (20000-5000 cal ka BP), from the oceanic core MD95-2043, recovered in the Alboran Sea (Western Mediterranean) in 1995. After identifying the different phytolith morphologies present in the samples, the relative abun-dance of each of them and the total concentrations of this group of siliceous microfossils were calculated. The study of the environmen-tal conditions required by plants (C3 or C4) that originated each type of phytoliths allows us to relate their presence and/or abundance to changes in the continent’s environmental conditions over time. The results show the existence of certain oscillations (more or less gra-dual) in some parameters such as vegetation or climatic and edaphic humidity. For this reason, these type of indicators of continental ori-gin are a very useful tool for paleoclimatic reconstructions based on the analysis of sedimentary records.