Notes: This work presents a detailed 87Sr/86Sr isotope curve for the interval 7.5–9.7 Ma obtained by a high-resolution analysis (sampling spacing of about 40 kyr) of an astronomically calibrated land-based sedimentary sequence exposed in the central Mediterranean area (Gibliscemi section, southern Sicily). The main aim is to verify a synchronous response of the Mediterranean seawater Sr isotope record to the oceanic forcing on the basis of multiple comparisons of the Gibliscemi record with published coeval 87Sr/86Sr curves. A good correlation with the 87Sr/86Sr data from the ODP site 926 (equatorial Atlantic ocean), considered to be the Sr chemostratigraphic reference section for the Late Miocene, and from the Pacific DSDP site 590B was registered. Conversely, the comparison of the Gibliscemi Sr isotope data with 87Sr/86Sr ratios from the coeval segment of the land-based Sardella section (eastern Mediterranean) shows important differences highlighting a local control on the seawater Sr isotope changes in semi-isolated subbasins within the Late Miocene Mediterranean.

Notes: Abstract A detailed carbon isotope study has been carried out on a Santonian (Upper Cretaceous) carbonate platform succession that crops out at Monte Sant'Erasmo (southern Italy). Previous centimetre-scale studies on this succession have shown that high-frequency eustatic changes, resulting from the Earth's orbital fluctuations, controlled the hierarchical organization of the depositional and early diagenetic features in elementary cycles, bundles (groups of three to five elementary cycles) and superbundles (groups of three or four bundles). The elementary cycles, which correspond to single beds, suggest a control caused by Earth's precession; the bundles and superbundles record the short (≈ 100 kyr) and long (≈ 400 kyr) eccentricity periodicity respectively. The δ13C signal of the Monte Sant'Erasmo succession is cyclic in nature and may be considered to be a reliable proxy for the sedimentary evolution (and related sea-level history) of the analysed sequence. The carbon isotope cyclicity is recorded at bundle and superbundle level, but it is not evident at the scale of the elementary cycles, at least with the sampling interval used in this study. Spectral analysis of the δ13C record shows two main peaks corresponding to the short- and long-eccentricity periodicity, whereas the precession signal is not evident in the power spectrum. In addition, lithofacies analysis shows that, in each bundle (and superbundle), higher C isotope values occur in sediments characterized by marine cements, whereas lower values are normally found in more restricted deposits overprinted by early meteoric diagenesis. Early diagenesis, driven by periodic sea-level fluctuations, developed in either shallow-subtidal (marine diagenesis) or subaerial-exposed (meteoric overprint) sedimentary environments and directly influenced the carbon isotope signature. As a consequence, the δ13C record at Monte Sant'Erasmo reflects high-frequency climatic oscillations controlling both environmental and early diagenetic changes. The long-term isotopic record is similar to that of contemporaneous pelagic sections in England and elsewhere in Italy. It is concluded that the δ13C signature of shallow-water carbonates, such as those of Monte Sant'Erasmo, offers great potential for correlation with coeval sections, including those of the pelagic realm.