Are fluid inclusions in gypsum reliable paleoenvironmental indicators? An assessment of the evidence from the Messinian evaporites

The paleosalinity of water from which the gypsum precipitated during the Messinian salinity crisis is a controversial issue. Recent microthermometry studies on primary fluid inclusions in gypsum provided very low salinity values not compatible with precipitation from seawater, and suggested strong mixing between seawater and nonmarine waters enriched in calcium sulfate. We applied a new microthermometric protocol on gypsum crystals from nine Mediterranean sections that were experimentally stretched to measure a larger population of fluid inclusions. The results show salinities ranging from 9 to 238 wt‰ NaCl equivalent, largely falling within the evaporation path of normal seawater. The data from previous studies were obtained mostly from those fluid inclusions capable of nucleating a stable bubble after a weak stretching, which probably correspond to those having a lower salinity acquired through post-depositional crack-and-seal processes. Our data suggest instead that the primary gypsum precipitated from a marine brine, later modified by post-trapping processes during tectonics and exhumation.

Critical analysis of Mediterranean sea level limit cycles during the Messinian salinity crisis

The Messinian Salinity Crisis (5.97-5.33Ma) may be one of the most significant periods of sea-level change in recent geologic history. During this period, evaporite deposition throughout the Mediterranean basin records a series of dramatic environmental changes as flow through the Strait of Gibraltar was restricted. In the first stage of evaporite deposition, cycles of gypsum appear in shallow basins on the margins of the Mediterranean. The complex environmental history giving rise to these cycles has been investigated for decades but remains controversial. Notably, whether the evaporites are connected to significant changes in Mediterranean sea level is an open question. In one proposed model, competition between tectonic uplift and erosion at the Strait of Gibraltar gives rise to selfsustaining sea-level oscillations—limit cycles—which trigger evaporite deposition. Here I show that limit cycles are not a robust result of the proposed model and discuss how any oscillations produced by this model depend on an unrealistic formulation of a key model equation. First, I simplify the model equations and test whether limit cycles are produced in 64 million unique combinations of model parameters, finding oscillations in only 0.2% of all simulations. Next, I examine the formulation of a critical model equation representing stream channel slope over the Strait of Gibraltar, concluding that a more realistic formulation would render sea-level limit cycles improbable, if not impossible, in the proposed model.

Sr isotopes in the Tortonian-Messinian Lake Bira and Gesher marshes, Northern Valleys of Israel: Implications for hydroclimate changes in East Mediterranean−Levant margins

87Sr/86Sr isotope and Sr/Ca ratios in lacustrine carbonates were used to reconstruct the hydroclimate conditions in the watershed of Lake Bira that filled during the Tortonian-Messinian the tectonic depressions of the Northern Valleys of Israel in the East Mediterranean-Levant region. 87Sr/86Sr ratios of the Tortonian (ca. 10−8 Ma) carbonates of ∼0.7075 and the great expansion of the lake indicate wet conditions and enhanced supply of freshwater from the regional Mesozoic aquifers. Upon the transition to the Messinian period (ca. 7−6 Ma), the 87Sr/86Sr ratios in the carbonates rose to ∼0.7080−0.7085, reflecting the contribution of Sr from Sahara Desert dusts that came to comprise the regional surface cover. This contribution is also reflected in the silicate fraction of the lacustrine formations that show “granitic-crustal” 87Sr/86Sr ratios of ∼0.711. During the Messinian salinity crisis (5.9−5.6 Ma), the region became arid and Lake Bira possibly dried. Later, during the Lago Mare stage (ca. 5.5−5.3 Ma), the rainfall increased and paludal waterbodies scattered the area of the larger Lake Bira.

Messinian ostracodes from the western Betic Strait (SW Spain)

During the Neogene, the Betic Strait was one of the gateways that connected the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. In this paper, we have analyzed the ostracod faunas of samples collected from sediments crossed by a long borehole in southwestern Spain. These sediments were deposited in the Betic strait just before the Messinian Salinity Crisis. During the middle Messinian (6.8-6.0 Ma), the scarce and low diversified ostracod assemblages (Krithe, Parakrithe, Henryhowella) are typical of upper bathyal palaeoenvironments (200-400 m water depth). This period includes a short transition (6.26-6.25 Ma) to outer neritic palaeoenvironments, coinciding with a glaciation and characterized by the presence of Acanthocythereis hystrix (Reuss, 1850) and the disappearance of Krithe and Parakrithe. The most abundant species have a wide biostratigraphic distribution, most of them ranging from the Tortonian until the Holocene.