The Messinian salinity crisis in the Mediterranean basin: A reassessment of the data and an integrated scenario

2006 ◽  
Vol 188-189 ◽  
pp. 35-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Marie Rouchy ◽  
Antonio Caruso
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Messinian Salinity Crisis ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The Mediterranean Basin

scholarly journals Calcareous dinoflagellate turnover in relation to the Messinian salinity crisis in the eastern Mediterranean Pissouri Basin, Cyprus

2007 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katarzyna-Maria Bison ◽  
Gerard J. M. Versteegh ◽  
Frits J. Hilgen ◽  
Helmut Willems
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Phytoplankton Community ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Messinian Salinity Crisis ◽  
Low Diversity ◽  
Restricted Environment ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Upper Tortonian ◽  
The Mediterranean Basin

Abstract. The extent to which the Messinian salinity crisis modified the initially Tethyan, eastern Mediterranean phytoplankton community has been investigated by monitoring the fate of calcareous dinoflagellate cyst assemblages prior to, during and after the salinity crisis in the Pissouri section (Cyprus). A rich, but low diversity open oceanic assemblage, dominated by Calciodinellum albatrosianum, is found in the upper Tortonian and lower Messinian. The upper Messinian (pre-evaporitic) sediments yield only few cysts but the assemblage is much more diverse and reflects unstable more neritic conditions (Bicarinellum tricarinelloides), fluvial influence (Leonella granifera) and varying, temporally increased salinities (Pernambugia tuberosa), probably related to the increasingly restricted environment. The basal Pliocene sediments reflect the return to normal marine conditions; the dinoflagellate assemblage is rich in cysts and again has a low diversity. However, in contrast to the C. albatrosianum-dominated upper Tortonian and pre-evaporitic Messinian sediments, L. granifera clearly dominates the basal Pliocene association just after the replenishment of the Mediterranean basin. Apart from this shift in dominance, the onset of the Pliocene is furthermore marked by the first appearance of Calciodinellum elongatum, which must have immigrated from the Atlantic Ocean. Lebessphaera urania, a postulated remnant of the Tethyan Ocean survived the salinity crisis, possibly in as yet unidentified marine refuges in the Mediterranean itself. Although the environmental changes caused by the Messinian salinity crisis did not lead to an extinction of calcareous dinoflagellate species of the Pissouri Basin, it resulted in a significant change in the assemblages and contributed to a more modern character of the Pliocene dinoflagellate association in the eastern Mediterranean.

The Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC) deposits in the Balearic Promontory: An undeformed analog of the MSC Sicilian basins??

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fadl Raad ◽  
Johanna Lofi ◽  
Agnes Maillard ◽  
Antonio Caruso ◽  
Athina Tzevahirtzian
Keyword(s):  
Late Miocene ◽  
Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Seismic Facies ◽  
Messinian Salinity Crisis ◽  
Deep Basin ◽  
Stratigraphic Model ◽  
Stratigraphic Position ◽  
Messinian Evaporites ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The Mediterranean Basin

<p>The Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC) is a prominent and still misunderstood event that influenced the Mediterranean basin in the late Miocene leaving behind a Salt Giant (SG) widespread all over the Mediterranean basin. More than 90% of the Messinian Evaporitic deposits are located offshore with reduced access via boreholes, and thus has been studied mainly by seismic imaging. Onshore-Offshore should be considered a key for a better understanding and answering some of the controversies on the MSC.</p><p>The Balearic Promontory (BP) contains a series of small perched basins presently lying at different water depths, stepped from the present-day coastline down to the deep basin. These topographic lows trapped sedimentary series up to 500m thick, interpreted as MSC in age.<br>The reduced tectonic movements in the BP since the late Miocene (Messinian) till recent days, favored the conservation of the MSC records in this area. Moreover, recent studies revealed the presence of a Salt layer in the Central Mallorca Depression (CMD).</p><p>Considering: 1- the bathymetry of the BP, classified as an intermediate perched basin; 2- the distribution of the MSC records accumulated in a series of sub-basins more or less connected between each other; 3- the geometries of the evaporitic formations, provided by how these records appear on the seismic data; this might recall similarities between the BP records (especially the ones in the CMD) and the MSC reference records outcropping in Sicily (especially in the Caltanissetta Basin).</p><p>We perform seismic interpretation of a wide seismic reflection dataset in the study area with the aim of refining the mapping of the Messinian evaporites covering the study area. Four seismic units were identified in the BP based on their seismic facies and their seismo-stratigraphic position. We try to match up these units to the consensus Messinian 3-stages chrono-stratigraphic model proposed during the CIESM in 2008.<br>We also attempt to find similarities in geometries, facies and distribution of the MSC between the sub-basins of the BP and those described in the Sicilian sub-basins.</p>

scholarly journals Some Reports of Paratethyan Ostracods from the Central Mediterranean Area

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Temani R
Keyword(s):  
Brackish Water ◽  
Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Mediterranean Area ◽  
Messinian Salinity Crisis ◽  
Central Mediterranean ◽  
Marine Fauna ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Mediterranean Basin

Uppermost Miocene stratigraphic sections have been sampled in Sicily and eastern Tunisia. Some of the stratigraphic levels contained in them are related to the continentalization phase (“Lago Mare”) of the Mediterranean Basin, which occurred at the end of the Messinian Salinity Crisis. Within these levels, ostracod associations reflecting fresh or brackish water environments are reported here for the first time. Species considered to be Paratethyan in affinity lived in these environments. The discovery, both in Sicily and Tunisia, of species such as C agrigentina, A propinqua, and M. punctate, suggests that the Sicilian Channel did not prevent the migration of the non-marine fauna from NW to SE in the Paleomediterranean area during the Post Evaporitic Phase

Piracy and Law in the Ottoman Mediterranean

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua M. White
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Islamic Law ◽  
Comprehensive Examination ◽  
Legal Space ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
First Time ◽  
Eastern Half ◽  
The Mediterranean Basin

This book offers a comprehensive examination of the shape and impact of piracy in the eastern half of the Mediterranean and the Ottoman Empire’s administrative, legal, and diplomatic response. In the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, piracy had a tremendous effect on the formation of international law, the conduct of diplomacy, the articulation of Ottoman imperial and Islamic law, and their application in Ottoman courts. Piracy and Law draws on research in archives and libraries in Istanbul, Venice, Crete, London, and Paris to bring the Ottoman state and Ottoman victims into the story for the first time. It explains why piracy exploded after the 1570s and why the Ottoman state was largely unable to marshal an effective military solution even as it responded dynamically in the spheres of law and diplomacy. By focusing on the Ottoman victims, jurists, and officials who had to contend most with the consequences of piracy, Piracy and Law reveals a broader range of piratical practitioners than the Muslim and Catholic corsairs who have typically been the focus of study and considers their consequences for the Ottoman state and those who traveled through Ottoman waters. This book argues that what made the eastern half of the Mediterranean basin the Ottoman Mediterranean, more than sovereignty or naval supremacy—which was ephemeral—was that it was a legal space. The challenge of piracy helped to define its contours.

Unfinished and Less Authored Texts

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew D. C. Larsen
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Written Texts ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Jewish Writers

The concept of textual unfinishedness played a role in a wide variety of cultures and contexts across the Mediterranean basin in antiquity and late antiquity. Chapter 2 documents examples of Greek, Roman, and Jewish writers reflecting explicitly in their own words about unfinished texts. Many writers claimed to have written unfinished texts on purpose for specific cultural reasons, while others claimed to have written texts that slipped out of their hands somehow with their permission.

The Alphabet and its Legacy

2019 ◽  
pp. 240-255
Author(s):  
Madadh Richey
Keyword(s):  
Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Technological Development ◽  
Greek Language ◽  
Writing Systems ◽  
Present Contribution ◽  
Generative Power ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Alphabetic Writing ◽  
The Mediterranean Basin

The alphabet employed by the Phoenicians was the inheritor of a long tradition of alphabetic writing and was itself adapted for use throughout the Mediterranean basin by numerous populations speaking many languages. The present contribution traces the origins of the alphabet in Sinai and the Levant before discussing different alphabetic standardizations in Ugarit and Phoenician Tyre. The complex adaptation of the latter for representation of the Greek language is described in detail, then some brief attention is given to likely—Etruscan and other Italic alphabets—and possible (Iberian and Berber) descendants of the Phoenician alphabet. Finally, it is stressed that current research does not view the Phoenician and other alphabets as inherently simpler, more easily learned, or more democratic than other writing systems. The Phoenician alphabet remains, nevertheless, an impressive technological development worthy, especially by virtue of its generative power, of detailed study ranging from paleographic and orthographic specifications to social and political contextualization.

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