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126 R. Chemello and S. Silenzi

2.2

2.0

d18O (PDB) 1.8

1.6

1.4

1.2 4C dating

1.0 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000
1500

Calculated years AD

(a)

Downloaded by [Weizmann Institute of Science] at 03:22 26 June 2013 d18O (PDB) 1.7
1.4
1.1 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000
0.8
0.5
0.2
–0.1
–0.4
–0.7

1500

Calculated kyr BP
(b)

Figure 3. The δ118O (‰ PDB) composition of two different transects of the Sicilian Vermetid colonies (a) (modifed from
Silenzi et al. [6]) compared with the mean δ18O (‰ VPDB) recorded from the Israeli Mediterranean coast (b) (modified
from Sisma-Ventura et al. [7]). The black triangle in (a) represents the calibrated 14C date on which the chronological
models of all the three records are based. The dashed lines in the Sicilian records indicate the δ18O value of each section

for actual living Vermetids.

Acknowledgements

This article has been inspired by INTERMED, one of the CIRCLE Med projects funded by the French Ministry of
Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Territorial Planning, the Regional Ministry of Innovation and Industry
of the Galician Government, the Ministry of Environment Protection of Israel, the Italian Ministry for Environment,
Land and Sea, and the Foundation for Science and Technology of Portugal, in the framework of Circle ERA Net project
(which is funded by the European Commission 6th Framework Programme). We thank Gianluca Sarà (University of
Palermo) for the invitation to the Intermed Workshop, and the following colleagues for their help and useful comments
on the manuscript: Marco Milazzo, Mariagrazia Graziano and Silvano Riggio (University of Palermo), Saverio Devoti
(ISPRA, Roma), Paolo Montagna (Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University). We are very grateful to
Martina Genovese (Studio Associato Gaia, Genova) and Helen Main (Palermo) for their help during the preparation of
the manuscript.

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