Abstract
The Marmara region (NW Turkey) has a transitional vegetation and climate between the Mediterranean one and the Euxinian one. For the last Interglacial period or Eemian and following the two Saint-Germain Interstadials (i.e. c. MIS 5), as well and the previous glacial, the Saalian, no vegetation or climate information is available yet. Here we provide the results of the pollen analysis of two sediment cores taken from the Sea of Marmara. We focus on the period below a major erosion horizon, i.e. the red-H1 seismic horizon, which corresponds to the last Interglacial and a large part of the previous glacial period. A palaeoclimatic reconstruction inferred from pollen assemblages is also proposed here.Based on geochemistry that allows inter-core comparison and on a succession of warm and cold phases derived by pollen analysis, a nearly complete sequence from the Saalian Glacial period (c. MIS 6) to the Saint-Germain II Interstadial (MIS 5a) was obtained, despite the occurrence of hiatuses corresponding often to lowstands.The Pterocarya extinction has been traced from MIS 7 in Italy to Saint-Germain I Interstadial (c. MIS 5c) in the eastern Sea of Marmara, showing a progressive retreat from west to east until the Black Sea region, where it is still present nowadays.The climatic changes reconstructed for the Eemian Interglacial (or c. MIS 5e) are characterised by warmer temperature and a slightly drier climate than at present, at its peak. This pattern is in agreement with the Ohrid climate pattern, in the Balkans. In the Marmara region, this is reflecting a shift of the Mediterranean climate towards the NE and a reduction of the Euxinian vegetation.