Abstract
We discuss the tectonic setting of the Maltese archipelago from LGM to nowadays in the light of published sedimentological, archaeological, SAR data and radiocarbon datings on a speleothem recently sampled at -14.5 m below the mean sea level in a submerged cave along the southern coast of the island of Malta.
Maltese coastline is considered to be slightly conservative from a geomorphological point of view due to the soft lithologies outcopping along the coasts and the strong wave energy environment. No MIS5e deposits were recorded along the 196 km of coastline. Sampling and datings of a submerged stalactite in a submerged cave along the southernmost Maltese coast, of which the entrance is between -18.0 m and -25.0 m together with two cores at Burmarrad, Eastern coast
(Marriner 2012), suggested that the islands are tectonically stable since the Holocene and consequently endorse previous models provided by
(Furlani 2013) and
(Foglini 2015). On this base, we reconstructed the paleogeographic evolution of the submerged coast using Multibeam data at progeressive time slices since LGM (Mesolithic???). The tectonic stability of Malta in the short-term is confirmed also by SAR interpherometry.
Keywords: sea level change, radiocarbon datings, speleothemes, Malta
Introduction
The relations between the sea level rise and the tectonic setting of coastal areas is mainly derived by the comparison of eustatic and glacio-hydro-isostatic models and the present-day altitude of recognized sea level markers (e.g.
(HEARTY 1986);
(Lambeck 2004); Antonioli et al., 2007, 2009; Lambeck et al., 2011; Anzidei et al., 2014). Sea level markers can be successfully used for periods when the relative sea level was lower than the present-day level
(Surić 2009). Submerged cave deposits recorded a hiatus in their growth after drowning by sea level rising and speleothems in particular may keep track of past sea-level fluctuations because their concentric growth, which occurs in subaerial conditions, is interrupted during inundations
(Dutton 2009). Therefore it provides additional constraints on the timing and elevation of past shoreline and, consequently, speleothems date the cessation of the speleothem growth. In other words, it is possible to date the last phase of the growth of speleothems. In particular cases
(Dutton 2009), thanks to datings on lithophaga or serpulid overgrowth, it was possible to accurately date the sea drowning.
Holocene sea level rise along the coasts of the Maltese archipelago was temptatively reconstructed firstly by Paskoff and Sanlaville (1978) by coastal geomorphological observations. They suggested that Malta is stable or slightly subsiding toward NW. Furlani et al. (2013), by means of underwater archaeological remains along the southern and western coast of Malta supported the late Holocene stability of the island. Lagoonal deposits were found also in two cores sampled by Marriner et al. (2013) in correspondence of some Roman age saltpans at San Paul Bay. Furlani et al. (2013) reconstructed also the position of the sea level during the Holocene, while Foglini et al. (2015) provided a more detailed reconstruction of the Maltese paleo-landscape after the LGM until present by means of combining multibeam surveys, Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR)-derived digital terrain models (DTMs), Chirp sub-bottom profiler records and bottom samples.
The aim of the present paper is to reconstruct the relative sea level change along the Maltese islands and in the Sicily Channel using radiocarbon datings on a speleothem collected at -14.5 m below the mean sea level in a submerged cave in the Southern sector of the coast of the island of Malta. Relying on the supposed relative stability of Malta, the available archaeological indicators, multibeam data and an accurate predicted sea level curve, provided a tentative timing of the palaeo-environmental reconstruction of this area since the Last Glacial Maximum for the first time supported by datings.