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The restriction of the Mediterranean–Atlantic marine connection over the Messinian stage, which led to a salinity crisis and the deposition of the youngest salt giant on Earth, impacted the composition and structure of marine biota in unprecedented ways, but its effects on the biological functions of marine organisms remains unchartered territory. By analyzing the stable oxygen and carbon isotopic composition of the otoliths of two carefully selected fish species, a pelagic (surface) and a benthic (bottom-dwelling) one, we were able to infer not only the sea surface and bottom salinity and oxygenation conditions, but also the fishes’ metabolic response to the paleoceanographic changes in the eastern Mediterranean from 7.2 to 6.5 Ma. The high salinity and stratification of the Mediterranean water column during this interval hampered the ability of the marine fishes to grow, particularly those dwelling in the sea bottom. A first event (6.82–6.81 Ma) of high temperature and salinity induced an increase in the metabolism of fishes across the water column, meaning that they consumed and respired more. Subsequent warming, increased salinity and stratification at 6.70–6.69 Ma further intensified the environmental stress for bottom-water fishes. To cope with these extreme conditions at the sea floor, benthic fishes show increased metabolic carbon despite low food availability, which implies that fishes metabolized (i.e. consumed) their own tissue to survive. The disappearance of benthic fishes in the study area after 6.8 Ma further reinforces this conclusion. Our study promotes the importance of otoliths stable isotopic analyses as tools for reconstructing complex paleoenvironmental histories.

Molluscs, and among them bivalves, are organisms known for their ability to precisely record paleoenvironmental changes, both in shallow and deep marine settings. When looking into the recent geological past, bivalve assemblages offer information on the climatic changes that have impacted their taxonomic compositions. In the eastern Mediterranean, assemblages of bathyal bivalves are scarce. In order to investigate the impact of climatic changes on deep-water bivalve communities during the Early-Middle Pleistocene Transition, we focus here on two well-dated sections on Rhodes Island (Greece) corresponding to the Lindos Bay Formation. The sections of Lindos and Lardos present a continuous sedimentation of fine, marly sediments, and cover the Marine Isotopic Stages (MIS) 32 to 18. A total of 15 samples were analysed, resulting in the recovery of 31 species of bathyal bivalves. The depositional depths of these samples are estimated to be between 150 and 500 m. All samples are dominated by Protobranch bivalves, with the larger diversity found in families Nuculanidae and Yoldiidae. Three species, found only in cool intervals, are now extinct: Ledella nicotrae, Katadesmia confusa, and Pseudoneilonella pusio. Differences in sample composition are thought to be due mainly to climatic rather than bathymetric conditions. Although the associations in most MIS are similar to those found in the Italian Pleistocene deposits, those of the MIS 21 interglacial (Nucula nucleus – Saccella commutata – Cyclopecten hoskynsi – Limea crassa) and the MIS 20 glacial (Saccella commutata – Bathyspinula excisa –Yoldiella curta – Bathyarca spp.) are new for the Mediterranean region. These results imply that there were significant changes in bathyal bivalve associations during the climatic transitions of the Early-Middle Pleistocene and that modern bathyal associations of bivalves have been stabilized after the Middle Pleistocene.

We analyse the distribution of the potamidid genus Terebralia Swainson, 1840 in the European fossil record (middle Eocene to Miocene). Extant Terebralia contains species restricted to mangroves and mudflats, rendering it a reliable element for detecting these coastal environments in the fossil record. Our contribution summarizes the European fossil record of this taxon and highlights the presence of this genus within coastal environments in the European realm. Distribution in the Cenozoic is interpreted based on ecological preferences, dispersal modes and climatic restrictions of recent species. Maximum geographical distribution is reached during the Early and Middle Miocene with two species being present from the southernmost parts of Europe and Anatolia to the North Sea Basin and the Paratethys. During the Late Miocene, the distribution of Terebralia lignitarum (Eichwald, 1830) is patchy and limited to the South of Europe. The Messinian Salinity Crisis coupled with a changing climate caused the disappearance of Terebralia in the Mediterranean first, and then marked the end of mangrove environments in this province.

Evaluation of the impact of climatic changes on the composition of fish assemblages requires quantitative measures that can be compared across space and time. In this respect, the mean temperature of the catch (MTC) approach has been proven to be a very useful tool for monitoring the effect of climate change on fisheries catch. Lack of baseline data and deep-time analogues, however, prevent a more comprehensive evaluation. In this study, we explore the applicability of the mean temperature approach to fossil fish faunas by using otolith assemblage data from the eastern Mediterranean and the northern Adriatic coastal environments corresponding to the last 8000 years (Holocene) and the interval 2.58–1.80 Ma B. P. (Early Pleistocene). The calculated mean temperatures of the otolith assemblage (MTO) range from 13.5 to 17.3 °C. This case study shows that the MTO can successfully capture compositional shifts in marine fish faunas based on variations in their climatic affinity driven by regional climate differences. However, the index is sensitive to methodological choices and thus requires standardized sampling. Even though theoretical and methodological issues prevent direct comparisons between MTO and MTC values, the MTO offers a useful quantitative proxy for reconstructing spatial and temporal trends in the biogeographic affinity of fossil otolith assemblages.

Stable oxygen and carbon isotopic composition of the otoliths of a pelagic and a benthic fish species are used as indicators of sea surface and bottom salinity-oxygenation conditions, as well as proxies of the fishes’ metabolic response to the paleoceanographic changes in the eastern Mediterranean from 7.2 to 6.5 Ma. The step-wise restriction of the Mediterranean–Atlantic gateway impacted the ability of the Mediterranean fishes to grow, particularly those dwelling in the sea bottom. The most important changes identified are: 1) a negative water budget (evaporative) event at 6.82–6.81 Ma that resulted in an increase in fish metabolism and respiration, and 2) a warming event at 6.70–6.69 Ma that further intensified the environmental stress for bottom-water fish and increased their metabolic activity despite low food availability. The results provide proof that the resilience of the benthic fish population was hampered, particularly after the 6.70–6.69 Ma event, due to the increased salinity, temperature and stratification of the water column in the eastern Mediterranean as a result of the marine gateway restriction.

9 pages, 4 figures.-- Data accessibility: The raw dataset produced in this study is available at https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.gxd2547pn [84]; the R script at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6643635 [85]; and electronic supplementary material can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6643637 [60], Mesopelagic fishes are an important element of marine food webs, a huge, still mostly untapped food resource and great contributors to the biological carbon pump, whose future under climate change scenarios is unknown. The shrinking of commercial fishes within decades has been an alarming observation, but its causes remain contended. Here, we investigate the effect of warming climate on mesopelagic fish size in the eastern Mediterranean Sea during a glacial–interglacial–glacial transition of the Middle Pleistocene (marine isotope stages 20–18; 814–712 kyr B.P.), which included a 4°C increase in global seawater temperature. Our results based on fossil otoliths show that the median size of lanternfishes, one of the most abundant groups of mesopelagic fishes in fossil and modern assemblages, declined by approximately 35% with climate warming at the community level. However, individual mesopelagic species showed different and often opposing trends in size across the studied time interval, suggesting that climate warming in the interglacial resulted in an ecological shift toward increased relative abundance of smaller sized mesopelagic fishes due to geographical and/or bathymetric distribution range shifts, and the size-dependent effects of warming, This work was funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) project M2894-N ‘Deep-time climate change impact on marine food webs’ (P.I.: K.A.). It was also supported by the National programmes Tellus-INTERRVIE and Tellus-SYSTER of CNRS-INSU (F.Q.). M.C. acknowledges the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (grant no. CEX2019-000928-S) to the Institute of Marine Science (ICM-CSIC) and partial funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 869300 (FutureMARES project)

Fossil records of nearshore, shallow marine fish communities are rare. Here, we present the rich and diverse fish fauna of a coastal setting in the eastern part of the Mediterranean during the early Pliocene, which comprises 54 taxa, 77% of which are extant and currently occupy the same shores. We analyse these assemblages to estimate the palaeodepth, the substratum and the climatic and oceanographic conditions prevailing in the region at the time. Furthermore, we review the stratigraphic and geographic distribution of the identified taxa from the Tortonian until today, to establish patterns and trends in the evolution of the Mediterranean coastal fish fauna. Contrary to expectations, the Pliocene coastal fauna is very similar to the Miocene and to the Pleistocene in terms of functional traits as well as taxonomically. Replacements of species seem to have been gradual, through multiple extirpations and reintroductions that led to the final extinction of mostly tropical species from the basin, while subtropical–temperate taxa invaded to take their place.

This study presents novel findings on the drivers of the calcitic planktonic foraminiferal and aragonitic pteropod Holocene assemblages of the North Aegean Trough (northeastern Mediterranean), an area recording the interaction between dynamic water masses as they exchange between the northern and southern Mediterranean sub-basins. Both of these groups of microorganisms are the major producers of calcium carbonate in the ocean, and are particularly sensitive to climate and oceanographic changes over the late Quaternary. Downcore micropaleontological data from the gravity core AEX-15, supplemented with multivariate statistical Q-mode cluster and principal component analyses (PCA) results, provide significant insights on the water column dynamics during the Holocene. Focusing on the last ~10 calibrated thousands of years before the present day (ka cal BP), our integrated study reveals that primary productivity is the dominant factor controlling the planktonic foraminifera distribution in the North Aegean Sea, whereas water column stratification, and particularly the intensity of the oxygen minimum zone, seems to be the major driver on the pteropod distribution. Besides productivity and thermal stratification, which show the highest explanatory power for planktonic foraminifera and pteropod communities, respectively, though they affect both groups to a different extent, upwelling seems to further affect both faunal groups. Overall, our findings are consistent with those derived by published late Quaternary eastern Mediterranean records, highlighting in parallel a useful additional dimension on planktonic foraminiferal and pteropod ecology, which is inextricably linked with the factors of primary productivity and vertical stratification of the warm Holocene water column.

Aspects of paleoclimatic and paleoceanographic evolution of the north Aegean Sea through the Holocene are revealed by the study of quantitative variations in planktonic foraminiferal, pteropodal, and palynomorph assemblages; the isotopic composition of planktonic foraminifera; and hydrographic-related indices, extracted from two high-sedimentation rate cores from the North Aegean Trough. Focusing on the last ~10 cal ka BP, the current Holocene subdivision (Greenlandian, Northgrippian, and Meghalayan) confirms the traditional understanding of an evolution from wetter (Greenlandian) to gradually drier (Northgrippian and Meghalayan) climatic conditions and further highlights the role of changing seasonality during this time. The most warm and humid phase corresponds to the time of the sapropel S1 deposition (9.6–6.1 cal ka BP). The Holocene climatic instability of the study area is further supported by six episodes of brief cooling (North Aegean cooling; NAEGC6–NAEGC1) centered at 9.30, 8.05, 7.05, 4.55, 3.55, and 2.05 cal ka BP, reflected by significant faunal changes and oxygen isotope enrichments. These cold/arid events are coeval with equivalent cooling events that have been described in different basins of the Mediterranean Sea, while signal similarities with equivalent changes in the intensity of the Siberian high suggest a climatic link between the studied area and the high-latitude areas.

Tindaria kretensis n. sp., a minute deep-water protobranch, is described from Early Pliocene marls cropping out in the Voutes section, northern Crete Island. This is one of the few fossil records of Tindaria from the Mediterranean area, the first well documented for the Neogene. Tindaria is an almost cosmopolitan deep-water genus, absent from the modern Mediterranean. Its occurrence in the Early Pliocene is in agreement with what is known about the past psychrospheric conditions in the Mediterranean.

Conidae is a very diverse family of carnivorous gastropods with over 900 extant species, that present beautiful colour patterns. These patterns can be useful to biologists for the systematic approach, but lack usually in fossil samples, when they are only observed in natural light. Therefore conid species were difficult to distinguish.To resolve that problem, we use ultraviolet light to reveal the colour patterns of these fossil shells. Here, we present the second part of a PhD project that attempts to clarify the diversity of the Tortonian Conidae from Crete, Greece. The first part of this project already revealed eleven species of Conilithes Swainson, 1840 and Conus (Kalloconus) da Motta, 1991 five of them being new. In the second part, we found seventeen species, of those seven are considered as new. Among them, ten are attributed to Conus (Lautoconus) Monterosato, 1923 and three in Conus (Plagioconus) Tucker & Tenorio, 2009. Finally, a group of four species with special characteristics is discussed and is proposed as a new subgenus.This project will greatly enrich the knowledge of the family in the Tortonian of Eastern Proto-Mediterranean. The results will be compared to similar faunas from the Middle-Miocene to Pliocene of Europe, in order to assess the biogeography of this family.

Reconstructing paleoceanographic conditions for the entire water column remains challenging, due to the lack of proxies for seawater parameters below surface waters, which could be used to validate models. Fish otoliths and ostracods are used here to obtain biogeochemical proxy data of sea surface/bottom temperature and productivity, as well as the biological response of marine fishes to paleoenvironmental change. Our study area is located in the eastern Mediterranean Sea (Heraklion basin, Crete Island). During the Messinian age (specifically between 7.2 and 6.5 Ma), the Mediterranean–Atlantic connection was restricted leading to a strongly stratified water column. We study the sea surface and bottom conditions under these conditions.Stable oxygen isotopes on ostracod valves (Bairdoppilata sp.) reflect the combined effect of bottom-water temperature and salinity changes. For fishes however, this depends on each species lifestyle. We analyzed two very common species: 1) Bregmaceros albyi, a surface-water pelagic species, and 2) Lesueurigobius friesii, a demersal fish dwelling on the sea bottom. Our hypothesis was that the stable oxygen isotopic ratios on B. albyi otoliths would reflect surface-water conditions, whereas those on L. friesii would correspond to bottom-water conditions. Furthermore, we obtained δ13C values for the same ostracod and otolith specimens. Stable carbon isotopic ratios in invertebrate shells indicate biological productivity, since carbon fractionation takes place as a single-step process during biomineralization. However, fish otolith aragonite mineralization is more complicated, involving more than one fractionation steps, and carbon is obtained from seawater, but also from diet. Therefore, otolith δ13C is considered a proxy of the fish’s field metabolic rate, reflecting its ability to continue to grow and reproduce despite environmental change.Our results show that B. albyi δ18O values correlate well with those derived from planktonic foraminifera shells, whereas L. friesii δ18O is in agreement with ostracod values, thereby confirming our hypothesis. Moreover, ostracod and foraminifera δ13C follow the same decreasing pattern. However, otolith δ13C remains stable, even after 6.8 Ma, when high-amplitude salinity variations prevail. This suggests that fish maintained their capacity to grow and reproduce despite significant changes in seawater conditions at least until 6.5 Ma. However, whether this reflects their resilience to these environmental changes or an adaptation mechanism such as reducing their growth rate or shifting their trophic preferences remains a mystery.

During the Late Miocene the Mediterranean Sea experienced severe disruption of its connectivity to the Atlantic Ocean, highlighted by a rapid sea-level drop, culminating to the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC; 5.97-5.33 Ma). Such a paleoceanographic change, triggered by the cumulative effect of climate and tectonics, caused high-amplitude fluctuations in the hydrology of the entire basin, and further influenced the geological history of the Mediterranean Sea. Although a consistent pattern of the paleoclimate has started to emerge, we currently lack a continuous sea surface salinity (SSS) record linking the timing of sea surface temperature (SST) variations, sea-level fluctuations, and the overall environmental change, particularly for the pre-evaporitic period. Initial viewpoints of a linear and gradual salinity increase prior to the onset of the MSC have been recently revised and replaced by highly variable salinity-related patterns representative of the stepwise restriction of the Mediterranean Sea. Here we use the combined Tetra Ether (TEX86-) and/or alkenone unsaturation ratio (UK′37) based SSTs and oxygen isotopes (δ18O) from the cyclic marl-sapropel sedimentary succession of Agios Myron section (north-central Crete, Greece) to assess hydroclimate changes during that time, and we finally present the first record of SSS in the eastern Mediterranean Sea for the earliest Messinian (7.2–6.5 Ma). The relatively stable marine conditions after the Tortonian/Messinian boundary, expressed through a cool and fresh upper water column, significantly changed at ∼6.9 Ma, when an important reversal in the heart of the Messinian cooling trend supplemented by a coherent hypersaline water column took place. The observed SST and SSS patterns provide context for a two-fold evolution of this event (centered at 6.9–6.8 and 6.72 Ma), which finally led to the onset of a brine pool into the eastern Mediterranean basin. The transitional character of the following time interval (6.7–6.5 Ma) marks another important step in the basin restriction with a wider range of salinity fluctuations from highly saline to diluted conditions and enhanced water column stratification prior to the deposition of evaporites. Overall, this evolution supports the concept of a stepwise restriction of the Mediterranean Sea associated with substantial hydroclimate variability and increasing environmental (thermal and salinity) stress, and further confirms its position as a preferred laboratory for developing new conceptual models in paleoceanography, allowing the investigation and scale assessment of a phenomenon with high chances of representing a future analogue scenario.

Marine biodiversity is controlled by depth, climate, and ocean connectivity. The early Miocene marine fauna of the proto-Mediterranean is particularly important because this is the time when the connection with the Indo-Pacific realm was disrupted , and the marine biodiversity hotspot shifted toward the southeast, marking the onset of a subtropical gradually oligotrophic regime in the proto-Mediterranean Sea. The Mesohellenic basin in particular, at the northern part of the proto-Mediterranean, was located at the intersection with the Paratethys epicontinental sea. Therefore, the fauna in this area was influenced by the conditions in both basins. In this study, we present the mollusc and fish fauna of the Aquitanian Mesohellenic basin and discuss its paleobiogeographic and evolutionary implications. Comparisons and assessment of faunal similarities of the proto-Mediterranean and adjacent provinces is carried out using ordination methods to treat available data from relevant publications and the Paleobiology Database (PBDB).This research has been co-financed by Greece and the European Union (European Social Fund- ESF) through the Operational Programme “Human Resources Development, Education and Lifelong Learning 2014–2020” in the context of the project “Mollusc and fish migrations in the dynamic environments of the early to middle Miocene in the Mediterranean” (MIS 5047960).

A multidisciplinary study was conducted in order to investigate the environmental factors affecting the planktonic foraminiferal and pteropod communities of the south Aegean Sea. Aspects of the Late Quaternary paleoceanographic evolution were revealed by means of quantitative analyses of planktonic foraminiferal and pteropod assemblages (including multivariate statistical approach, principal component analysis (PCA)), the oxygen (&delta, 18O) and carbon (&delta, 13C) isotopic composition of planktonic foraminifera and related paleoceanographic (planktonic paleoclimatic curve (PPC), productivity (E-index), stratification (S-index), seasonality) indices, extracted by the gravity core KIM-2A derived from the submarine area between Kimolos and Sifnos islands. Focusing on the last ~21 calibrated thousands of years before present (ka BP), cold and eutrophicated conditions were identified during the Late Glacial period (21.1&ndash, 15.7 ka BP) and were followed by warmer and wetter conditions during the deglaciation phase. The beginning of the Holocene was marked by a climatic amelioration and increased seasonality. The more pronounced environmental changes were identified during the deposition of the sapropel sublayers S1a (9.4&ndash, 7.7 ka BP) and S1b (6.9&ndash, 6.4 ka BP), with extremely warm and stratified conditions. Pteropod fauna during the sapropel deposition were recorded for the first time in the south Aegean Sea, suggesting arid conditions towards the end of S1a. Besides sea surface temperature (SST), which shows the highest explanatory power for the distribution of the analyzed fauna, water column stratification, primary productivity, and seasonality also control their communities during the Late Quaternary.

International audience; This study details new geochemical analysis from an outcrop in Crete to improve understanding of the hydrocarbon potential of the southern margin of the Hellenic Arc along the continental convergent zone of the central Mediterranean Ridge. Seventeen samples were collected from the Late Miocene sub-salt sedimentary succession of Plouti section in central Crete and were studied in terms of their organic geochemical features using Rock-Eval VI pyrolysis. Results of this investigation revealed intervals with sufficient organic material of good enough quality and quantity to be considered as potential source rocks. The obtained data generally present poor to fair and/or good in some cases hydrocarbon generation potential. The TOC values range from 0.03 to 1.99%, with an average fair (2.1 mg HC/g rock) hydrocarbon potential. A Type III kerogen was identified, indicating a terrestrial origin organic matter. T max and Production Index values suggest that the most promising parts of the section (organic-rich sediments) are immature with respect to oil generation and have not experienced high temperature during burial. Overall, the present study offers the opportunity to advance our understanding on the hydrocarbon potential onshore Crete and further investigate hydrocarbon prospectivity in the adjoining area, and particularly, the Greek part of the Mediterranean Ridge, a region with crucial economic and strategic importance.

The Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC) was an environmental perturbation with dramatic environmental consequences that greatly affected marine organisms. Messinian deposits are found in several locations around the Mediterranean, but few offer marine faunas rich in molluscs. A section near Heraklion, central Crete, has provided new material that contains a well preserved and rich molluscan fauna that includes many micromorphic species. The section is of early Messinian age, belongs to Agios Miron Formation, and bears several layers of fossiliferous marly sands.Molluscs from a fossiliferous bed of the section are presented here for the first time. Gastropods and bivalves are most common, but scaphopods and chitons are not infrequent. The assemblage seems to be composed of transported elements from nearby environments and the most frequent species are present in comparable abundances for gastropods and bivalves. The gastropod fauna is represented by Bittium sp. and Gibbula sp., accompanied by Diodora cf. graeca, Turritella sp., Jujubinus sp., species of Pyramidellidae and rarer Homalopoma sp. and Haliotis sp. The presence of Bittium sp. together with Jujubinus sp. suggests vegetated environments. Bivalves are represented by species dwelling mostly in sandy environments such as Glycymeris cf. inflata (also occurring in larger specimens), Spisula sp., Timoclea sp. and various cardiids. Exceptionally well-preserved chitons indicate the presence of hard substrates such as rocks, pebbles or roots of seagrass beds. This is confirmed by the presence of the gastropods Diodora cf. graeca and Haliotis sp.The assemblage points towards normal salinity shallow marine conditions of sandy bottoms with patches of seagrass-type vegetation before the onset of the MSC.

Marine environmental status can be assessed through the study of bio-indicator species. Here, we monitor natural environmental stress by the occurrence of morphologically abnormal planktonic foraminiferal specimens from a suite of surface sediments in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. We also compare Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) abnormality observations from sapropel S1-derived sediments in the Aegean, Libyan and Levantine basins, since they provide a direct record of a natural stress experiment that took place over past time scales. At initial sapropel deposition levels, we observe increased growth asymmetry in Globigerinoides ruber twinned and twisted individuals, possibly associated with eutrophication and anoxia. In modern material, a range of malformations and aberrant morphologies from slight deformity with smaller or overdeveloped chambers to more severe deformity with abnormally protruding or misplaced chambers, distorted spirals, and double tests is also observed, as a result of the hypersaline, oligotrophic and oxygen-depleted nature of the Mediterranean Sea water column. Overall, we highlight the current use of the relative abundance of abnormal tests as a bio-indicator for monitoring natural stress, especially the occurrence of twin specimens as indicative of high-salinity stress conditions, and further illustrate the necessity to map both their spatial and temporal distribution for accurate paleoenvironmental reconstructions. Such an approach presents the advantage to rapidly provide information over wide spatial and temporal scales, extending our ability to monitor a wide variety of environments (from coastal to the open-sea). However, further investigations should extend this approach to test the robustness of our findings in a number of similar oceanic settings.

Diversified deep-water corals and associated communities occur in early Pleistocene (early Calabrian; ∼1.7–1.6 Ma) calcareous crusts discovered on the south-western coast of Karpathos Island (eastern Greece). Apart from abundant and conspicuous solitary and colonial corals (12 species), the accompanying fauna comprises mostly bivalves (10 species), serpulid worms (4 species), and bryozoans (40 species). The growth and deposition of the studied organisms occurred in an upper bathyal environment at water depths around 400–600 m. The calculated mean uplift rate after deposition of the crusts indicates that Karpathos was drowned during the earliest Calabrian and experienced severe uplifts by the late Calabrian. A comparison between these communities and those of the Pleistocene to Recent Mediterranean and north-east Atlantic shows that a common stock of taxa exist(ed); among them two azooxanthellate colonial scleractinians (Lophelia pertusa and Madrepora oculata) are predominant.

We here report on the systematics, paleoecology and biostratigraphy of a rare, but diversified gastropod fauna found in the early Pliocene sediments of the Agia Triada section in the Falanthi Basin (Peloponnese, Greece). Sixty-one species belonging to forty-eight genera are identified, allowing biostratigraphic assignment to the Mediterranean Plio-Pleistocene Molluscan Unit 1 (MPPMU1). Planktonic foraminiferal biostratigraphic analyses indicate that the Agia Triada section correlates with Zones MPL2 and MPL3, corresponding to the latest Zanclean. A comparison is further carried out between the studied assemblages and those previously documented from the Atlantic coasts of Europe and the Mediterranean region. New information on the palaeobiogeography of early Pliocene gastropod fauna is given, as seven species from the Mediterranean, thirty-nine species from the eastern Mediterranean and forty-four species from Greece, are documented here for the first time.

International audience; Coastal fish assemblages are especially vulnerable to environmental changes, but little is known about their evolution through time, mainly due to the scarcity of fossil material from such settings. The aim of this study is to characterize the early Pleistocene coastal fish assemblages of the eastern Mediterranean and to reconstruct the related paleobathymetric and paleoecologic conditions. Based on otolith findings, we identified thirty-seven teleost fish species from three sedimentary outcrops on the northeastern part of Rhodes Island (southeastern Aegean, Greece, Eastern Mediterranean), which have been placed within the Gelasian (early Pleistocene). The stratigraphic distribution of fifteen taxa is expanded for this interval, while five species are reported for the first time as fossils. The otolith assemblages provided paleodepth estimates indicative of shallow coastal environments. The ecosystem consisted mostly of substrates of sand and mud, with significant rocky micro-habitats and underwater vegetation; the climate was subtropical. These data complement existing knowledge on the study area, while providing new information on the composition of the ichthyofauna of the eastern Mediterranean during the Gelasian.

International audience; Early Pleistocene (Calabrian) clays of the Lindos Bay Formation have been uplifted and are exposed today on the eastern coast of Rhodes (Hellenic forearc, Greece). The hemipelagic origin of these sediments and the excellent preservation of the microfossils they contain, make the Lindos Bay Formation a unique element in the eastern Mediterranean, which has the potential to constitute a paleoclimate referential framework of the region for the Early-Middle Pleistocene Transition (EMPT). In this context, 98 samples were collected in the type locality section of the Lindos Bay Formation. Stable isotope (δ18O, δ13C) analyses were carried out on benthic (Uvigerina peregrina) and planktonic (Globigerina bulloides) foraminifera for the interval between ∼1100 ka and ∼858 ka. We identify and continuously reconstruct the climate cycles that occurred between Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 32 and 21. Counts of planktonic foraminifera were further carried out and allow connecting the conditions occurring locally in the surface waters with the glacial-interglacial cycles during the onset of the EMPT. While (sub)tropical taxa dominate the assemblages, glacials were associated with short-term (

International audience; In the eastern Mediterranean, the island of Crete offers excellent exposures of upper Miocene marine deposits. Three detailed sections of the Tortonian/Messinian sedimentary succession were measured and sampled in three different basins (from west to east: Chania, Heraklion, and Sitia). The biostratigraphic analysis based on planktonic foraminifera yielded ages ranging from about 7.58 to 6.72 Ma. Nine bioevents were also recognised and provided good correlations between the studied sections. Rich benthic faunas (commonly occurring together with fish otoliths) have furthermore been recovered and analysed: foraminifera, mollusc (mostly bivalves), bryozoans, and ostracods. The autochthonous assemblages suggest deposition at middle-upper bathyal depths at the base and outer-inner shelf in the upper parts of the sections. The shallowing upward trend observed in all three sections is accompanied by the occurrence in a few Messinian levels of allochthonous fossils transported downslope and deposited in deep-water environments. Dysoxic episodes were moreover recorded in some beds, mostly in the Messinian. A comparison with other coeval basins and faunas indicates that similar palaeoenvironmental conditions predominated throughout the Mediterranean Sea during the late Miocene. This is consistent with the postulate of open connections (through marine corridors) between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, presumably until late in the Messinian.

Marine bioinvasions affect ecosystems in irreversible ways, creating socio-economic problems worldwide. In particular, eastern Mediterranean marine fish faunas today are significantly disturbed due to overfishing, habitat deterioration, the Lessepsian invasion, and climate change. Isolating the impact of each parameter is difficult, because pre-anthropogenic activity data are lacking. In this study, we use the paleontological record to infer the causes and mechanisms behind marine fish invasions, focusing on the Mediterranean basin, which is a restricted basin and a biological hotspot, where the effects of climatic and oceanographic changes are amplified. Therefore, the Mediterranean Sea is an ideal area to study marine biological invasions in relation to abrupt climate changes. Furthermore, we focus on the Pleistocene, which was a period of intense glacial–interglacial changes. Thus, we investigate the effect of climate changes on the fish fauna of an eastern Mediterranean shelf, by identifying the fish otoliths in the Early–Middle Pleistocene marine sediments of Rhodes (Greece). We offer a synthesis of the Mediterranean marine fish from the Tortonian until today and hypothesize on the conditions that drove marine fish distribution range shifts during the Pleistocene. We reconstruct the paleobathymetric evolution of the study areas based on fish otoliths, and we consider taphonomy in our interpretations. The Pleistocene climatic variability induced periodic and gradual replacements of fish taxa. Episodic invasions of cold-water North Atlantic mesopelagic species are correlated with intervals of climatic deterioration, specifically during marine isotope stages 50, 44, 36, 20, and 18.

Historic data and old topographic maps include information on historical floods and paleo-floods. This paper aims at identifying the flood hazard by using historic data in the drainage basin of Pinios (Peneus) River, in Thessaly, central Greece. For this purpose, a catalogue of historical flood events that occurred between 1979 and 2010 and old topographic maps of 1881 were used. Moreover, geomorphic parameters such as elevation, slope, aspect and slope curvature were taken into account. The data were combined with the Geographical Information System to analyze the temporal and spatial distribution of flood events. The results show that a total number of 146 flood events were recorded in the study area. The number of flood events reaches its maximum value in the year 1994, while October contains the most flood events. The flood occurrences increased during the period 1990&ndash, 2010. The flooded area reaches its maximum value in the year 1987, and November is the month with the most records. The type of damages with the most records is for rural land use. Regarding the class of damages, no human casualties were recorded during the studied period. The annual and monthly distribution of the very high category reaches the maximum values, respectively, in the year 2005 and in June. The analysis of the spatial distribution of the floods proves that most of the occurrences are recorded in the southern part of the study area. There is a certain amount of clustering of flood events in the areas of former marshes and lakes along with the lowest and flattest parts of the study area. These areas are located in the central, southern, south-eastern and coastal part of the study area and create favorable conditions for flooding. The proposed method estimates the localization of sites prone to flood, and it may be used for flood hazard assessment mapping and for flood risk management.

The geological, geomorphic conditions of a mountainous environment along with precipitation and human activities influence landslide occurrences. In many cases, their relation to landslide events is not well defined. The scope of the present study is to identify the influence of physical and anthropogenic factors in landslide activity. The study area is a mountainous part of the northern Peloponnesus in southern Greece. The existing landslides, lithology, slope angle, rainfall, two types of road network (highway-provincial roads and rural roads) along with land use of the study area are taken into consideration. Each physical and anthropogenic factor is further divided into sub-categories. Statistical analysis of landslide frequency and density, as well as frequency and density ratios, are applied and combined with a geographic information system (GIS) to evaluate the collected data and determine the relationship between physical and anthropogenic factors and landslide activity. The results prove that Plio-Pleistocene fine-grained sediments and flysch, relatively steep slopes (15&deg, &ndash, 30&deg, ) and a rise in the amount of rainfall increase landslide frequency and density. Additionally, Plio-Pleistocene fine-grained sediments and flysch, as well as schist chert formations, moderate (5&deg, 15&deg, ) and relatively steep slopes (15&deg, ), along with the amount of rainfall of &gt, 700 mm are strongly associated with landslide occurrences. The frequency and magnitude of landslides increase in close proximity to roads. Their maximum values are observed within the 50 m buffer zone. This corresponds to a 100 m wide zone along with any type of road corridors, increasing landslide occurrences. In addition, a buffer zone of 75 m or 150 m wide zone along highway and provincial roads, as well as a buffer zone of 100 m or 200 m wide zones along rural roads, are strongly correlated with landslide events. The extensive cultivated land of the study area is strongly related to landslide activity. By contrast, urban areas are poorly related to landslides, because most of them are located in the northern coastal part of the study area where landslides are limited. The results provide information on physical and anthropogenic factors characterizing landslide events in the study area. The applied methodology rapidly estimates areas prone to landslides and it may be utilized for landslide hazard assessment mapping as well as for new and existing land use planning projects.

Summarization: In the present study, we investigate the Mediterranean–Paratethys connection during the late Miocene in Strymon Basin (North Aegean, northeastern Mediterranean) and compare this onshore sequence with the adjacent offshore Prinos-Nestos sequence, before, during, and after the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC). Strymon Basin was a peripheral shallow-water basin during the first MSC stage. The Akropotamos sections expose a clastic sequence with gypsum intercalations, which is dated in the Messinian based on the ostracod and calcareous nannofossil assemblages. This sequence records the Primary Lower Gypsum deposition in a shallow marine environment and its passage via the Messinian erosional surface to a brackish environment with changing salinity conditions similar to the Paratethyan depositional environments. The sequence is capped by a travertine marker horizon observed across the entire Strymon Basin indicating freshwater environment. The Miocene–Pliocene transition is characterized by salinity changes caused by the interaction between Atlantic-Mediterranean and Paratethyan waters, predating the marine reflooding at the end of the MSC, which is attested by the overlying Pliocene open marine deposits. The offshore Prinos-Nestos basin incorporates the Nestos intermediate basin and the Prinos intermediate-deep basin. Borehole and seismic profile data from the offshore Prinos-Nestos oil field reflect a thick clastic sequence, topped by turbidites, and followed by an evaporitic unit deposited during the Messinian. In the Nestos slope area, the evaporite unit consists of anhydrite-shale alternations. Toward the basin's depocenter (Prinos Basin), anhydrite is replaced by halite. The sequence is overlain by Pliocene–Holocene deltaic prograding deposits. Sedimentologic and biostratigraphic data show that the thick halite-shale couplets in the deepest part of the offshore Prinos-Nestos Basin were deposited under permanent marine conditions, suggesting no desiccation before, during, and after the MSC. Conclusively, the present results indicate that a connection between the Mediterranean and the Paratethys was occasionally established before the Pliocene reflooding and favor the non-desiccation MSC model for the deep marine evaporite deposition. Presented on: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology

Alonissos (Iliodroma) Island is really famous to palaeobotanists because of the type locality of Glyptostrobus europaeus (Brongniart) Unger only. Since the first report of the latter holotype no palaeobotanical work has taken place in Alonissos. This is the first research of the fossiliferous locality, along with new palaeobotanical, palynological and gastropod findings, revealed after 200 years. Among the collected material, a xylitic specimen was studied and identified as Pinuxylon alonissianum Mantzouka & Sakala, sp. nov. The presence of this species points to botanical affinities with sections of Diploxylon Pines (Pinus leiophylla var. chihuahuana (Engelm.) Shaw, P. arizonica Engelm., P. arizonica var. cooperi (C.E.Blanco) Farjon, P. engelmannii Carriere and P. jeffreyi Balf.) especially from Central America (Sierra Madre Occidental and Oriental of Mexico, Arizona, California, Oregon and Sierra Nevada). This is the first research of this kind revealing as the Nearest Relative bioprovince of the studied Greek fossil pine wood Central America and not Himalayas or Asia. Moreover, a palynological study and an analysis of fossil molluscs were carried out for the first time, giving more data regarding the palaeovegetation and palaeoclimate of the area. Finally, the holotype of Glyptostrobus europaeus (Brongniart) Unger, housed in the collections of the Museum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris (MNHN), is found, photographed and presented for the first time.

The Pliocene Eastern Mediterranean fish record is revealed through the study of a 60-m thick stratigraphic sequence near the village Voutes (Heraklion, Crete). Forty-two species belonging to twenty families are identified. Calcareous nannoplankton biostratigraphy places the studied sequence within the biozone MNN16a (latest Zanclean). The stratigraphic distribution of 31 species is modified. Among these, 12 species are reported for the first time in the Eastern Mediterranean Zanclean, while 19 species are first reported outside the Ionian Sea. The Voutes fish fauna presents a diversified benthic and benthopelagic assemblage filling a significant gap in the fossil record.

Diverse, abundant and usually well-preserved communities of skeletal organisms occur in the lower Pleistocene (Gelasian) siliciclastic deposits of the Greek island of Rhodes. Benthic foraminifers, molluscs and bryozoans have been studied in four measured and sampled sections located in the northern part of the island. Among these bottom-dwelling organisms, numerous extant taxa are good environmental indicators and, combined with field observations and sedimentological data, they provide information on the probable conditions in which they developed. The siliciclastic deposits of the Kritika Formation have been divided into 14 different bio- and lithofacies, which have been further grouped into four facies associations corresponding to four different environmental settings: (1) continental to fluviatile; (2) brackish-water (lagoonal/deltaic); (3) infralittoral (0–20 m); and (4) upper circalittoral (depths of 20–40 m, but also down toc.50–60 m). Among the marine facies associations, several characteristic biocoenoses have been recognized: soft-bottoms (fine to coarse sands and gravels); seagrass meadows; biogenic calcareous crusts on drowned beachrock slabs; red algal rhodoliths; and bivalve shell beds. In the studied sections, 13 superimposed genetic sequences have been documented. The repetition of similar facies associations within each sequence suggests: (1) a possibly eustasy-controlled, cyclic sedimentation; (2) a general subsidence of Rhodes during the deposition of the studied facies associations; and (3) a mostly constant range of environmental conditions (i.e. sedimentation rates and temperature) throughout the Gelasian.

International audience; The marine Messinian deposits of Tunisia cover a narrow littoral strip some 300 km long between the northern Bizerte and Cap Bon areas and the central-eastern Sahel region. Litho- and biofacies analysis of six stratigraphic sections reveals the distinctive features of these deposits.;The lower Messinian deposits are characterized by ubiquitous siliciclastics and abundant oolitic/bioclastic limestones organized in an eastward facing ramp. Westward (landward), this ramp changes into coastal lagoons, sometimes containing evaporites. Eastward, the ramp passes to the reefal Pelagian Platform extending as far as Lampedusa.;Two main sedimentary cycles are distinguished: 1) an early Messinian siliciclastic retrogradational then oolitic/bioclastic progradational cycle (Beni Khiar Formation and lower Oued bel Khedim Formation): 2) a late Messinian brackish to continental cycle that probably accumulated in rapidly subsiding lagoons (Cued el Bir Formation and upper Oued bel Khedim Formation). The Tunisian early Messinian cycle is partly eustatically controlled, but the late Messinian cycle cannot be confidently correlated to other well-known Messinian series because of tectonic movements.;The lower Messinian deposits of Tunisia are also characterized by abundant suspension-feeding organisms (molluscs and bryozoans) and rare corals, calcareous algae, echinoids, and larger benthic foraminifers. The proposed palaeoenvironmental model shows that the lower Messinian ramp of Tunisia was located on a current-protected margin and subjected to continent-derived sediment and nutrient supply. Eastward, nutrient influx diminished and a shallow-water isolated carbonate platform with coralgal facies developed between the western and the eastern Mediterranean basins. The main hydrological connection between these two basins occurred through a narrow seaway situated to the northeast of the Pelagian Platform, south of Sicily and Malta.

Changes in benthic foraminiferal and mollusk assemblages from the lower part of the Upper Pliocene of the Atsipades Section (Iraklion Basin, central Crete) were studied. The Atsipades Section represents a shallowing-upward sequence from outer shelf blue–gray clays at the bottom of the sequence, deposited below the storm wave base, to shallow inner shelf deposits affected by storm waves at the top. The foraminiferal assemblage at the bottom of the sequence is dominated by Bolivina spathulata , Bolivina dilatata and Uvigerinidae, a microfossil assemblage corresponding to the deepest deposits formed under dysoxic sea-floor conditions. Foraminiferal assemblages of the middle part of the section are highly diversified, predominantly Haynesina depressula , Cassidulina carinata and Reusella spinulosa . The top of the section is mainly characterised by Asterigerinata planorbis , Bolivina pseudoplicata , Cibicides lobatulus and Elphidium sp., a typically epiphytic foraminiferal assemblage which can be correlated with the presence of an algal covered sea-bottom. Within this general environmental trend, a minor shallowing cycle can be differentiated. The boundaries of this cycle can be inferred, based on a substantial microfossil assemblage change and on the coincidence of species diversity maximum and a planktonic/benthic (P/P + B) ratio peak. Nonetheless, upwelling currents and/or over-abundance of nutrients due to continental outflow could also contribute to increased diversity and P/P + B ratio. The character of the mollusk assemblages is in accordance with these trends. Moreover, the increase in diversity and in sculpture constitutes a clear indication of an increase in hydrodynamic energy related to a shallowing-upward trend.

Στην εργασία αυτή μελετήθηκε η πλούσια και καλά διατηρημένη πανίδα μαλακίων που περιέχεται σε αμμώδες στρώμα ρηχών θαλάσσιων αποθέσεων του Κατωτέρου Πλειστοκαίνου της νήσου Ρόδου. Πιστοποιήθηκαν 4 διαφορετικές συγκεντρώσεις μαλακίων γειτονικών περιβαλλόντων καθώς και οι οικολογικές τους φωλεές οι οποίες καθορίζονται από την πλευρική μεταβολή του τύπου του υποστρώματος. Αναγνωρίστηκαν αντιπρόσωποι μαλακίων σκληρού υποστρώματος έως και αμμώδους βυθού της παράκτιας ζώνης. Προσδιορίστηκαν 55 είδη μαλακίων εκ των οποίων 29 είδη γαστερόποδων. Πιστοποιήθηκε η παρουσία της Ervilia castanea και της αντιπροσωπευτικής φάσης της στο Κατώτερο Πλειστόκαινο της Ελλάδας για πρώτη φορά., Highly diverse and well preserved marine mollusc associations from a sandy horizon of the Lower Pleistocene shallow water deposits of Rhodes island are here presented. Four significantly different molluscan assemblages characterize neighboring environments and document a variety of niches provided by the lateral change of bottom type. Molluscs of hard substrate to sandy seabed of the Infralittoral Zone were documented. A total of 55 molluscan species were identified. Gastropods dominate with 29 species. For the first time, the Ervilia castanea assemblage is described for the Lower Pleistocene of Greece.

Στην παρούσα εργασία παρουσιάζεται η παλαιοβαθυμετρική ανάλυση των συναθροίσεων ωτολίθων Ιχθύων, που προσδιορίστηκαν στα ιζήματα ηλικίας Ζαγκλίου στην τομή Βούτες (Ηράκλειο, Κρήτη). Η περιοχή Βούτες αποτελούσε μία ακτή με νηριτική Ιχθυοπανίδα, με υψηλή συμμετοχή μεσοπελαγικών ειδών, κυρίων Myctophidae. Τα βενθικά και βενθοπελαγικά ψάρια εμφανίζουν επίσης μεγάλη ποικιλότητα. Κατά το ανώτερο Ζάγκλιο, η περιοχή μελέτης αντιστοιχούσε σε βαθύ νηριτικό περιβάλλον. Σταδιακά η περιοχή ανυψώθηκε σε πολύ μικρά βάθη, όπως φαίνεται από την αυξημένη συμμετοχή στην πανίδα των Gobidae, αλλά και την παρουσία Bothidae. Στη συνέχεια, η περιοχή βάθυνε ξανά, καθώς παρατηρείται σημαντική μείωση της συμμετοχής των ρηχών βενθικών-βενθοπελαγικών ειδών. Το συμπέρασμα αυτό ενισχύεται από την παρουσία στο επίπεδο αυτό των Πτεροπόδων, αλλά και την απόθεση διατομιτών. Σε ανώτερο τμήμα της τομής, το βάθος της θάλασσας μειώνεται και πάλι, πριν τον ανώτερο διατομιτικό ορίζοντα, ο οποίος ωστόσο εμφανίζει ιδιαίτερα φτωχή συνάθροιση ωτολίθων., The fish otolith assemblages identified in the Zanclean sediments of Voutes section (Heraklion, Crete) are analyzed in order to estimate the depth of deposition. The assemblages indicate that Voutes area was in fact a coast inhabited by a neritic fish fauna with significant mesopelagic component, mostly Myctophids. The benthic and benthopelagic group exhibits great diversity. In the late Zanclean, the study area corresponds to a deep neritic environment, which gradually uplifts. At the end of the Zanclean, Voutes area becomes a very shallow coast, as shown by the increased contribution to the assemblage by members of the Gobiid family, as well as the notable presence of Bothidae. Thereafter, the area deepens again, as the shallow benthic-benthopelagic component significantly decreases. This is consistent with the appearance of Pteropods and reaches a peak during the deposition of diatomites at maximum depth. At the upper part of the section, the sea bottom depth decreases again to allow for the deposition of marls with various molluscs remains, where Gadids and Gobiids again reappear. Finally, the upper diatomitic horizon is characterized by a rather poor fish fauna. These observations allow reconstructing the evolution of Voutes coastal area during the latest Zanclean until the Piacenzian.

International audience; The lower Pleistocene Kritika Member of the Rhodes Formation is composed of predominantly siliciclastic deposits that are sometimes intercalated with hardbottoms formed by drowning of former beachrock beds. A wide variety of sclerobionts occur in this environment, very different from the poorest soft‐bottom populations occurring in other levels of the Kritika Member. The most characteristic, abundant and frequently diverse are the encrusting forms: coralline algae, bivalves, serpulid worms, and bryozoans. Numerous other groups of sessile and vagile organisms are associated with these crust‐forming communities. A number of skeletal organisms (sometimes including zooxanthellate coral colonies) formed small carbonate buildups on top of several beachrock beds. Boring organisms also occur. Evidence for a two‐step deepening succession over the previously formed beachrock is provided by palaeontological and sedimentological data. The rapidly cemented sandy‐conglomeratic beds were first colonised by a relatively shallow‐water (around 20 m) biocoenosis of mostly encrusting organisms. Another association, with encrusting and erect organisms, was later established in a deeper environment (20-40 m). A comparison with Holocene beachrock occurring on the coast of Rhodes was also undertaken. Their submerged part provided habitat for poorer but similar biotas to those occurring in the Kritika Member. The lower Pleistocene beachrock and associated organogenic fossil assemblages indicate repeated drowning episodes during deposition of the Kritika Member and provide help in sequence stratigraphic interpretations of these siliciclastic deposits. Notably, they can be used as indicators of relative sea‐level changes.

International audience; The coastal sediments of Rhodes in the eastern Mediterranean have recorded transgression-regression cycles that took place during the early Pleistocene. The sedimentary deposits from the Kritika Member of the Rhodes Formation consist in conglomerates, sandstones, siltstones and clays deposited in brackish to shallow marine environments. Faunal associations are dominated by molluscs and reveal rapid ecological changes. Carbon and oxygen isotope ratios of aquatic skeletal carbonates show that these ecological changes were most likely driven by large salinity changes while water temperature remained rather constant at about 22.0 ± 1.5 °C. The tectonic activity of the island rather than glacio-eustatic variations of climatic origin is advocated to be responsible for the ecological and salinity changes and sea-level variations recorded in the sedimentary sequence.

International audience; Spectacular accumulations of abundant bryozoan nodules (bryoliths) occur in the early Pleistocene coarse-grained, mixed carbonate-siliciclastic deposits of the Cape Arkhangelos Calcarenite of Rhodes, Greece. These bryoliths are always associated with numerous bivalves (mostly ostreids and pectinids) and serpulid worms, together with other rarer skeletal organisms. The spheroidal bryoliths vary in diameter from I cm to 16 cm, and those with a more ellipsoidal shape range from 0.8 cm to 22 cm in length and from 0.7 cm to 16 cm in width; an elongated bryolith of exceptional size (40 cm) was even found. The bryoliths are composed almost exclusively of the anascan cheilostome Calpensia nobilis and are nucleated on gravels, pebbles, or bivalve shells. After settlement of bryozoan crusts, the bryoliths increased in size by repeated overturning of these mobile hard substrates by longshore currents. The bryoliths developed at depths of 20-40 m on a flat shoal between emerged areas where bottom currents episodically accelerated during storms. The currents also transported the bryoliths, together with other skeletal elements, into deeper settings (40-80 m) where they could continue their growth, upward or downward, or be colonized by other organisms.

Στην εργασία αυτή περιγράφονται επτά είδη Βραχιονόποδων (6 terebratulids and 1 craniid) των ανω-Πλειοκαινικών αμμωδών αποθέσεων και ασβεστόλιθων της τομής Cape Vagia (νήσου Ρόδου): Gryphus sp., Terebratulina retusa, Megerlia truncata, Megerlia truncata var. monstruosa, Argyrotheca cordata, Megathiris detruncata και Novocrania anomala. Για πρώτη φορά αναφέρεται το Megerlia truncata var. monstruosa από το Πλειόκαινο της Ελλάδας και το είδος Megerlia truncata από το Πλειόκαινο της Ρόδου. Επίσης τα είδη Megathiris detruncata, Terebratulina retusa και Argyrotheca cordata περιγράφονται για πρώτη φορά από το Πλειόκαινο της Ρόδου. Τα Βραχιονόποδα αυτά αποτελούν βιοκοινότητα η οποία παρουσιάζει πολλές ομοιότητες με την αντίστοιχη συγκέντρωση ειδών στη σημερινή Μεσόγειο, η οποία χαρακτηρίζει ρηχών υδάτων και υψηλής ενέργειας περιβάλλοντα. Η συνάθροιση των ειδών Gryphus sp., Terebratulina retusa και Novocrania anomala συσχετίζεται με τα ενδιάμεσης ενέργειας βαθιών υδάτων περιβάλλοντα, Six brachiopod species (5 terebratulids and 1 craniid) from the upper Pliocene sandy and calcareous deposits of the Cape Vagia (Rhodes Island) are described: Gryphus sp., Terebratulina refusa, Megerlia truncata, Megerlia truncata var. monstruosa, Argyrotheca cordata, Megathiris detruncata and Novocrania anomala. This is the first record of Megerlia truncata var. monstruosa from the Pliocene of Greece and of Megerlia truncata from the Pliocene of Rhodes. Megathiris detruncata, Terebratulina retusa and Argyrotheca cordata are described for the first time from the Pliocene of Rhodes. This brachiopod association displays close affinity with those from the Mediterranean province, where assemblages of similar composition are associated with shallow-water, high energy environments. However, the association of Gryphus sp., Terebratulina retusa and Novocrania anomala corresponds to deeper water moderate environments.

International audience; Pollen records, marine faunal associations and stable isotope compositions of sediments from Rhodes, Greece, have been determined to track environmental changes in the eastern Mediterranean during the Early and Middle Pleistocene. A detailed chronostratigraphic curve, based on magnetostratigraphic data, was obtained by correlating pollen spectra with the Mediterranean oxygen isotopic curve of Ocean Drilling Program Site 975. Five sedimentary sequences that correspond to marine oxygen isotope stage (MIS) 31–27 and to MIS 20–17 have been investigated in the confined Tsampika microbasin. High-amplitude Pinus variations confirm glacio-eustatic changes deduced from changes in marine faunal associations and sedimentary depositional environments. Reflecting climatic cycles identified in the marine carbonate oxygen isotope record, eight vegetation successions (characterized by the dominance first of mesothermic elements, then of mid- and high-altitude elements with Pinus, and ending with maxima in herb and steppe elements) have been documented. Most of them were probably driven by changes in insolation occurring in high northern latitudes (obliquity impact) during the late Early Pleistocene and early Middle Pleistocene.