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>

On the lack of widespread bottom simulating reflectors in the Mediterranean Basin

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Corradin ◽  
Angelo Camerlenghi ◽  
Michela Giustiniani ◽  
Umberta Tinivella ◽  
Claudia Bertoni
Keyword(s):  
Water Column ◽  
Pore Water ◽  
Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Stability Field ◽  
Hydrocarbon Gases ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Bottom Simulating Reflectors ◽  
Messinian Evaporites ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The Mediterranean Basin

<p>In the Mediterranean Basin, gas hydrate bottom simulating reflectors (BSR) are absent, with very few and spatially limited exceptions occurring in Eastern Mediterranean mud volcanoes and in the Nile deep sea fan. This is in spite of widespread occurrence of hydrocarbon gases in the subsurface, mainly biogenic methane, from a wide range of stratigraphic intervals.<br>In this study we model the methane hydrate stability field using all available information on DSDP and ODP boreholes in the Western Mediterranean and in the Levant Basin, including the downhole changes of pore water salinity. The models take into account the consequent pore water density changes and use known estimates of geothermal gradient. None of the drilled sites were located on seismic profiles in which a BSR is present.<br>The modelled base of the stability field of methane hydrates is located variably within, below, or even above the drilled sedimentary section (the latter case implies that it is located in the water column). We discuss the results in terms of geodynamic environments, areal distribution of Messinian evaporites, upward ion diffusion from Messinian evaporites, organic carbon content, and the peculiar thermal structure of the Mediterranean water column. <br>We conclude that the cumulative effects of geological and geochemical environments make the Mediterranean Basin a region that is unfavorable to the existence of BSRs in the seismic record, and most likely to the existence of natural gas hydrates below the seabed.<br><br></p>

scholarly journals Decapod assemblage from the late Miocene (early-middle Messinian) of the Romagna Apennines nearby Brisighella, Emilia-Romagna (N Italy)

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Pasini ◽  
Alessandro Garassino ◽  
Marco Sami
Keyword(s):  
Late Miocene ◽  
Mediterranean Basin ◽  
The Other ◽  
Limited Knowledge ◽  
Ne Italy ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Stratigraphic Range

An assemblage of axiidean and brachyuran decapods is reported from the late Miocene pre-evaporitic (early-middle Messinian) limestone of Cò di Sasso, nearby Brisighella (Ravenna, Emilia- Romagna), located in Romagna Apennines (NE Italy). Except Monodaeus bortolottii Delle Cave, 1988 (Xanthidae MacLeay, 1838), which is reported here for the first time in Miocene, all the other specimens have been assigned to species previously known in the Italian Miocene (Messinian s.l.), but never reported in this area. The report of Galathea cf. G. weinfurteri Bachmayer, 1950 (Galatheidae Samouelle, 1819) and Medorippe ampla Garassino, De Angeli, Gallo and Pasini, 2004 (Dorippidae MacLeay, 1838) enlarges the stratigraphic range of these Miocene species. This report enlarges our limited knowledge on the composition and distribution of the axiidean, anomuran, and brachyuran decapods during the early-middle Messinian before the evaporitic event in the Mediterranean Basin.

scholarly journals THE OCCURRENCE OF THE METAXYTHERIUM CUVIERI CHRISTOL IN THE LATE MIOCENE SEDIMENTS OF SITIA, CRETE

2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 764
Author(s):  
Α. Μαρκοπούλου-Διακαντώνη ◽  
Ε. Λόγος
Keyword(s):  
Late Miocene ◽  
Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Eastern Region ◽  
Intermediate Type ◽  
Upper Miocene ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The Village ◽  
The Mediterranean Basin

Two Sirenian skulls with their upper jaws coming from the Upper Miocene area of the village Achladia determined as Metaxytherium cuvieri Christol have been studied. This species is known up today from the M. Miocene of France (Cottreau, 1928). One skull of Metaxytherium cuvieri Chritol is found at the locality «Tympana» of Achladia village, within the formation of marls- gray marls, at an height of 170 m ca., while the second one is found in the locality «Kefala» of Achladia village within the formation of the gray marls at an altitude of 196 m c a . Metaxytherium cuvieri Christol is an intermediate type between Dugongs and Recent Lamantins (=Manatees). The occurrence of Metaxytherium cuvieri Christol in the Hellenic area contributes to our knowledge of its geographical and stratigraphical distribution in this eastern region of the Mediterranean basin during the Upper Miocene

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.

Latest Miocene Mediterranean-Atlantic gateway restriction: The Atlantic's side of the story

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhi Lin Ng ◽  
Francisco Javier Hernández-Molina ◽  
Débora Duarte ◽  
Francisco Javier Sierro ◽  
Santiago Ledesma ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Late Miocene ◽  
Seismic Interpretation ◽  
Seismic Facies ◽  
Messinian Salinity Crisis ◽  
The West ◽  
Mediterranean Outflow Water ◽  
Sedimentary Evolution ◽  
Mediterranean Outflow ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Sedimentary Unit

<p>The closure of Late Miocene Mediterranean-Atlantic gateways and the restriction of Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW) led to the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC), the dynamics of which is not well understood. However, restriction of the Mediterranean-Atlantic exchange and the Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW) is one of the prerequisites to generate hypersaline conditions for evaporitic deposition. During the Late Miocene, MOW circulation was active through a Mediterranean-Atlantic exchange of the Betic, Riffian, and possibly Gibraltar gateways. This connection is thought to have ceased or reduced with the onset of the MSC, before re-establishing through the Gibraltar gateway since the Pliocene to the present. In this study, we define the sedimentary evolution of the Neogene Basins of the Gulf of Cádiz to investigate MOW evolution during the latest Miocene. Seismic interpretation shows an Upper Messinian sedimentary unit of transparent seismic facies. It could also be found in the lower Guadalquivir and Gharb basins, and towards the West Portuguese margin. Biostratigraphic dating indicate an onset of deposition predating the MSC. Distribution of this transparent unit implicates the dominant deposition of hemipelagic/pelagic deposits during a period of quiescence in the Atlantic margins, subsequent to MOW disconnection. This suggests that weakening or cut-off of the intermediate bottom currents of the Mediterranean-Atlantic exchange through the Betic-Gibraltar-Riffian paleo-gateways precedes the onset of MSC evaporites. This work is crucial for the understanding of sedimentary, paleoceanographic and climatic implications of the Latest Miocene Mediterranean isolation in the Atlantic margins.</p>

scholarly journals Late Miocene remains from Venta del Moro (Iberian Peninsula) provide further insights on the dispersal of crocodiles across the late Miocene Tethys

2020 ◽  
Vol 95 (1) ◽  
pp. 184-192
Author(s):  
Massimo Delfino ◽  
Àngel H. Luján ◽  
Juan Abella ◽  
David M. Alba ◽  
Madelaine Böhme ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Iberian Peninsula ◽  
Late Miocene ◽  
Mediterranean Basin ◽  
The Past ◽  
Morphological Basis ◽  
Mediterranean Europe ◽  
Small Collection ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Mediterranean Basin

AbstractThe dispersal of Crocodylus from Africa to Europe during the Miocene is not well understood. A small collection of cranial fragments and postcranial elements from the latest Miocene (6.2 Ma) site of Venta del Moro (Valencia, Spain) have previously been referred to Crocodylus cf. C. checchiai Maccagno, 1947 without accompanying descriptions. Here we describe and figure for the first time the crocodylian remains from Venta del Moro, which represent at least two individuals. Our comparisons indicate that this material clearly does not belong to Diplocynodon or Tomistoma—the only two other crocodylians described so far for the European late Miocene. The material is only tentatively referred to cf. Crocodylus sp. because the apomorphies of this genus are not preserved and a referral to C. checchiai cannot be supported on a morphological basis. However, it is likely that this late Miocene species, originally described from Libya (As Sahabi) and later identified also in Kenya, could have dispersed across the Mediterranean Basin multiple times and colonized the southern areas of Mediterranean Europe, as evidenced by several Crocodylus or Crocodylus-like remains described during the past years.

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

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