Sapropels S3–S5 were deposited under normal marine conditions with very limited and temporary establishment of near-euxinic bottom-water conditions. Highly depleted and somewhat uniform δ34S values together with the absence of fully euxinic conditions during sapropel intervals suggest that bacterially mediated sulfate reduction took place consistently below the sediment-water interface. | Geochemistry of Aegean Sea sediments: implications for surface- and bottom-water conditions during sapropel deposition since MIS 5
