ADVANCES IN PALYNOLOGY OF THE BLACK SEA CORRIDOR: A DECADE OF IGCP COLLABORATION

Pollen has long been used for paleoclimate study and land-sea correlation of Black Sea Pliocene-Recent sediments. This presentation outlines major highlights of the past decade. In 2005, IGCP521 enabled the first comparison of Marmara and Black Sea palynodiagrams, and first use of dinoflagellate cysts (dinocysts) for quantifying surface salinity (SS) by correlation with foraminiferal δ¹⁸O records. The palynologists from 14 nations, however, saw that standardisation was needed for processing methods to correlate palynochronologies, and to compare dinocysts and other non-pollen palynomorphs (NPP) used in paleoceanography. Collaboration led to a 15-nation biomisation pollen-vegetation study for the Corridor by 2007, and collaboration of 13 nations catalogued the NPP with standard taxonomy. By 2011, areal coverage expanded by link-up with IGCP480, producing a database of 99 samples from Caspian-Aral Sea to Nile Delta. IGCP610 in 2013 saw the database extend to 1178 samples, with refined calibration of pollen-vegetation correlations used to reconstruct 9-8 kaBP conditions. The term “Marinopalynology” was introduced for palynology of semi-enclosed and brackish water seas. Holocene palynochronology was refined by Filipova-Marinova and tied to ¹⁴C ages of fossil peats by Mudie and Yanko-Hombach, providing accurate marine carbon correction for early Holocene Black Sea studies. Process-length of the red-tide dinocyst Lingulodinium machaerophorum was statistically tied to SS in 61 samples, producing the first continuous quantitative records of Holocene SS in Black Sea and new interpretations for Caspian Sea climate and water levels. Deep-time marinopalynology and paleosol studies expanded from latest Pleistocene to MIS-5 (Eemian) and Mid-Late Pleistocene MIS 6-21. Through new DSDP-industry linkages, studies now include Miocene, Pliocene (Pontian-Apsheronian) and Early to Mid-Pleistocene time-slices. Ongoing work in 2015 includes: an Atlas of dinocysts from Aral to Aegean Seas; archives of harmful algal invasions and Atlantic immigrations; molecular sequencing to reveal cryptic dinocyst taxa and test intrabasinal endemism; collaborative Danube Delta studies from deltafront to outer shelf which indicate a new paradigm for palynomorph distribution models in microtidal semi-enclosed basins.