End member characteristics of core M40/4_SL71 and age model of sediment core M51/3_SL110, Eastern Mediterranean Sea

The Eastern Mediterranean Sea is a sink for terrigenous sediments from North Africa, Europe and Asia Minor. Its sediments therefore provide valuable information on the climate dynamics in the source areas and the associated transport processes. We present a high-resolution dataset of sediment core M40/4_SL71 from SW of Crete spanning the last ca. 180 kyr. We analysed the clay mineral composition, the grain size distribution within the silt fraction, and the abundance of major and trace elements. We test the potential of end member modelling on these sedimentological datasets as a tool for reconstructing climate variability in the source region and the associated detrital input. For each dataset we modelled three end members. All end members can be assigned to a specific provenance and sedimentary process. In total, three end members are related to Saharan dust input and five to fluvial sediment input. One end member is strongly associated with sapropel layers. The Saharan dust end members of the grain size and clay mineral datasets show a generally enhanced dust export into the Eastern Mediterranean Sea during the dry phases with short-term increases during Heinrich Events. During the African Humid Periods dust export was reduced but may not completely ceased. The loading patterns of two fluvial end members show a strong relationship to the northern hemisphere insolation, and all fluvial end members document enhanced input during the African Humid Periods. The sapropel end member most likely reflects the fixation of redox sensitive elements within the anoxic sapropel layers. Our results exemplify that end member modelling is a valuable tool for interpreting extensive and multidisciplinary datasets.