Decoding sea surface and paleoclimate conditions in the eastern Mediterranean over the Tortonian-Messinian Transition

Kontakiotis, George; Besiou, Evangelia; Antonarakou, Assimina; Zarkogiannis, Stergios D.; Kostis, A.; Mortyn, P. Graham; Moissette, Pierre; Cornée, Jean‐Jacques; Schulbert, Christian; Drinia, Hara; Anastasakis, George; Karakitsios, V.

doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2019.109312

Cited by 40 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 132 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The present-day Heraklion basin is formed by a series of N-S trending half-grabens filled by clastics, carbonates and evaporites of middle Miocene to Pliocene age (Meulenkamp 1979;Zachariasse et al 2008Zachariasse et al , 2011. During this time interval, a sequence of different sedimentary environments from brackish lagoons to marginal and offshore marine settings have been documented in Crete (ten Veen and Postma 1999; Reuter et al 2006;Drinia et al 2008;Zachariasse et al 2011;Moissette et al 2018;Kontakiotis et al 2019). Subsequent to a phase of non-marine and marginally marine sedimentation at the end of the Serravallian, the basin became a marine environment during the early Tortonian.…”

Section: Neogene Sedimentary Environments Of Heraklion Basinmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Respecting the paleogeographic setting of Crete during the middle-late Miocene, characterized by local and regional factors (e.g., horst and graben stuctures, barrier effect and existence of restricted basins before the MSC, strong terrestrial influence with long distance transport of fine sediments and nutrients from the Nile, marine diagenesis; Fassoulas 2001;Antonarakou et al 2007Antonarakou et al , 2019Zachariasse et al 2011;Zelilidis et al 2016;Moissette et al 2018;Kontakiotis et al 2019), it can be assumed that similar constellations allowed the deposition of source rocks in several fore-arc basins between Crete and Mediterranean Ridge. However, strong lateral variations in the thickness of the salt layer in the upper deforming sequence (Late Miocene evaporites) between the western and the eastern foreland basins (Maravelis et al 2015b), along with the local presence of mud diapirism (volcanoes), the diverse trap styles (stratigraphic and structural traps; Pantopoulos et al 2013;Pantopoulos and Zelilidis, 2014), and the unusually great thickness and diverse character (various lithotypes) of the sedimentary infill differentiate the Mediterranean Ridge from most other accretionary complexes.…”

Section: Sedimentary Basin Dynamics: Implications For the Onshore Depmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Preliminary results based on geochemical sedimentary constraints on the hydrocarbon potential and depositional environment of a Messinian sub-salt mixed siliciclastic-carbonate succession onshore Crete (Plouti section, eastern Mediterranean)

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study details new geochemical analysis from an outcrop in Crete to improve understanding of the hydrocarbon potential of the southern margin of the Hellenic Arc along the continental convergent zone of the central Mediterranean Ridge. Seventeen samples were collected from the Late Miocene sub-salt sedimentary succession of Plouti section in central Crete and were studied in terms of their organic geochemical features using Rock-Eval VI pyrolysis. Results of this investigation revealed intervals with sufficient organic material of good enough quality and quantity to be considered as potential source rocks. The obtained data generally present poor to fair and/or good in some cases hydrocarbon generation potential. The TOC values range from 0.03 to 1.99%, with an average fair (2.1 mg HC/g rock) hydrocarbon potential. A Type III kerogen was identified, indicating a terrestrial origin organic matter. T max and Production Index values suggest that the most promising parts of the section (organic-rich sediments) are immature with respect to oil generation and have not experienced high temperature during burial. Overall, the present study offers the opportunity to advance our understanding on the hydrocarbon potential onshore Crete and further investigate hydrocarbon prospectivity in the adjoining area, and particularly, the Greek part of the Mediterranean Ridge, a region with crucial economic and strategic importance.

show abstract

Section: Neogene Sedimentary Environments Of Heraklion Basinmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Sedimentary Basin Dynamics: Implications For the Onshore Depmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preliminary results based on geochemical sedimentary constraints on the hydrocarbon potential and depositional environment of a Messinian sub-salt mixed siliciclastic-carbonate succession onshore Crete (Plouti section, eastern Mediterranean)

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Furthermore, the whole-shell weights of planktonic foraminifera picked from a narrow size range can provide a measure of the extent of surface ocean density changes. The consistency of the different shell mass records from Pliocene core material [11] to Miocene land section samples [77] proves that foraminifera weighing is a robust method for assessing the extent of pelagic biomineralization. However, the present study has shown that the degree of shell cleanliness can greatly affect weight measurements, imposing distortions to paleoceanographic interpretations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Evidence of Stable Foraminifera Biomineralization during the Last Two Climate Cycles in the Tropical Atlantic Ocean

Zarkogiannis

Antonarakou

Fernández

et al. 2020

JMSE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Planktonic foraminiferal biomineralization intensity, reflected by the weight of their shell calcite mass, affects global carbonate deposition and is known to follow climatic cycles by being increased during glacial stages and decreased during interglacial stages. Here, we measure the dissolution state and the mass of the shells of the planktonic foraminifera species Globigerina bulloides from a Tropical Eastern North Atlantic site over the last two glacial–interglacial climatic transitions, and we report no major changes in plankton calcite production with the atmospheric pCO2 variations. We attribute this consistency in foraminifera calcification to the climatic and hydrological stability of the tropical regions. However, we recorded increased shell masses midway through the penultimate deglaciation (Termination II). In order to elucidate the cause of the increased shell weights, we performed δ18O, Mg/Ca, and μCT measurements on the same shells from a number of samples surrounding this event. Compared with the lighter ones, we find that the foraminifera of increased weight are internally contaminated by sediment infilling and that their shell masses respond to local surface seawater density changes.

show abstract

“…Reef accumulation patterns in the Eastern Mediterranean diverge from that of the Western Mediterranean, both in respect to number and composition (Buchbinder, 1996). Microfossil assemblages exhibit indications of periodically enhanced salinity and oxygen limitation (Kontakiotis et al, 2019;Kouwenhoven et al, 2006;Moissette et al, 2018). All of this evidence points to some enhanced restriction of the eastern basin as early as ~7.5 Ma.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Architecture and sequence stratigraphy of the Upper Coralline Limestone formation, Malta – implications for Eastern Mediterranean restriction prior to the Messinian Salinity Crisis

Bialik¹,

Zammit²,

Micallef³

2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Eastern and Western Mediterranean are separated by an elevated plateau that regulates water exchange between these two basins. The Maltese archipelago, situated atop this topographic high, offers a unique window into the evolution of this plateau in the lead up to the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC). The Upper Coralline Limestone formation was deposited between the late Tortonian and the early Messinian and was likely terminated by paleoceanographic events related to the MSC. It represents the youngest Miocene sedimentary deposits outcropping in the Maltese archipelago. This shallow-water carbonate unit can be used to trace paleoenvironmental changes atop the sill between the Eastern and Western Mediterranean and to explain the possible water flow restrictions to the Eastern Mediterranean that could have preceded the MSC. Here we combine field surveys and analysis of the depositional environment within the Upper Coralline Limestone in Malta, with recently acquired multichannel seismic reflection profiles between Malta and Gozo, to reconstruct the depositional sequence in the Malta Plateau during the late Miocene.The Upper Coralline Limestone consists of multiple coralline and larger benthic foraminifera dominated facies, extending from subtidal to intertidal environments. These accumulated in two depositional cycles observed in both outcrop and seismic reflection data. Each cycle exhibits an early aggradation-progradation phase followed by progradation phase and a final aggradation phase. These manifest themselves in the outcrops as shallowing and deepening upwards phases. These were deposited above a deep water unit and indicated a preceding uplift phase followed by filling of the accommodation space through the deposition of the Upper Coralline Limestone formation in shallow marine depths. These indicate the presence of a highly elevated sill during the late Miocene, which could have restricted circulation to the eastern basin.

show abstract

Decoding sea surface and paleoclimate conditions in the eastern Mediterranean over the Tortonian-Messinian Transition

Cited by 40 publications

References 132 publications

Preliminary results based on geochemical sedimentary constraints on the hydrocarbon potential and depositional environment of a Messinian sub-salt mixed siliciclastic-carbonate succession onshore Crete (Plouti section, eastern Mediterranean)

Preliminary results based on geochemical sedimentary constraints on the hydrocarbon potential and depositional environment of a Messinian sub-salt mixed siliciclastic-carbonate succession onshore Crete (Plouti section, eastern Mediterranean)

Evidence of Stable Foraminifera Biomineralization during the Last Two Climate Cycles in the Tropical Atlantic Ocean

Architecture and sequence stratigraphy of the Upper Coralline Limestone formation, Malta – implications for Eastern Mediterranean restriction prior to the Messinian Salinity Crisis

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About