Mediterranean outflow pump: An alternative mechanism for the Lago-mare and the end of the Messinian Salinity Crisis

Marzocchi, Alice; Flecker, Rachel; Baak, Christiaan van; Lunt, Daniel J.; Krijgsman, Wout

doi:10.1130/g37646.1

Cited by 55 publications

(79 citation statements)

References 31 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The case illustrated in Figure d, where Sorbas has a mostly negative freshwater budget, causes the Sr anomaly peaks to be out of phase by half a precessional cycle with the implied water column stratification. We conclude that in contrast with the negative late Miocene freshwater budget for the main Mediterranean basin, as indicated by several modeling studies [e.g., Blanc , ; Ryan , ; Marzocchi et al , ], the Sorbas Basin likely had a primarily positive freshwater budget, based on the observed phase relationship between the Sr anomalies and faunal data.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 54%

Precessional variability of⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr in the late Miocene Sorbas Basin: An interdisciplinary study of drivers of interbasin exchange

et al. 2017

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We present the first subprecessional record of seawater 87Sr/86Sr isotope ratios for a marginal Mediterranean subbasin. The sediments contained in this interval (three precessional cycles between 6.60 and 6.55 Ma) are important because they record conditions during the transition to the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC; 5.97 to 5.33 Ma), an event for which many details are still poorly understood. The record, derived from planktic foraminifera of the late Miocene Sorbas Basin (SE Spain), shows brief excursions with precessional cyclicity to 87Sr/86Sr ratios higher than coeval ocean 87Sr/86Sr. The hydrologic conditions required to generate the observed record are investigated using box modeling, constrained using a new paleodepth estimate (150 to 250 m) based on benthic foraminiferal assemblages. The box model results highlight the role of climate‐driven interbasin density contrast as a significant driver of, or impediment to, exchange. The results are particularly significant in the context of the MSC, where 87Sr/86Sr excursions have been interpreted purely as a consequence of physical restriction. To replicate the observed temporal patterns of lithological variations and 87Sr/86Sr isotope excursions, the Sorbas Basin “box” must have a mainly positive hydrologic budget, in contrast with the Mediterranean's negative budget during the late Miocene. This result has implications for the assumption of synchronous deposition of specific sedimentary layers (sapropels) between marginal and open Mediterranean settings at subprecessional resolution. A net positive hydrologic budget in marginal Mediterranean subbasins may reconcile observations of freshwater inclusions in gypsum deposits.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 54%

Precessional variability of⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr in the late Miocene Sorbas Basin: An interdisciplinary study of drivers of interbasin exchange

et al. 2017

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Paratethys retreat also influenced European climate, ecosystems and depositional settings (e.g. Marzocchi, Flecker, van Baak, Lunt, & Krijgsman, ; Ramstein, Fluteau, Besse, & Joussaume, ) and generated large quantities of natural resources (oil, gas, salt) that are of economic importance for the region today (e.g. Dank, ; Hudson et al., ; Sachsenhofer, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changing seas in the Early–Middle Miocene of Central Europe: a Mediterranean approach to Paratethyan stratigraphy

et al. 2017

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Miocene palaeogeographic evolution of the Paratethys Sea is still poorly constrained. Here, we use modern Mediterranean biochronology to provide an up‐to‐date overview of changing seas in Central Europe. Instead of a Paratethys that waxed and waned with fluctuating global sea levels, we show that the development of different seas was mainly controlled by tectonic phases. The Early Miocene “Ottnangian Sea” (~18 Ma) was connected to the Mediterranean via the Rhône valley, while the “Karpatian Sea” (~16.5 Ma) was initiated by a tectonically induced marine transgression through the Trans‐Tethyan gateway. In most Central European basins, the establishment of the “Badenian Sea” (<15.2 Ma), triggered by subduction‐related processes in the Pannonian and Carpathian domain, is significantly younger (by ~1 Myr) than usually estimated. The updated palaeogeographic reconstructions provide a better understanding of the concepts of basin dynamics, land–sea distribution and palaeoenvironmental change in the Miocene of Central Europe.

show abstract

“…The gradual vs catastrophic modality of the Messinian salinity crisis (MSC) and the timing of the return to normal marine conditions in the Mediterranean basin is one of the main still open and controversial problems (see Roveri, Flecker, et al, and references therein). The palaeoenvironmental conditions and the connectivity of the Mediterranean basin with the Atlantic and the Paratethys during the last evolutionary stage of the MSC (stage 3 of CIESM, ), the so called Lago‐Mare phase (Ruggieri, ), are still matter of a hot scientific debate (Braga et al, ; Carnevale, Landini, & Sarti, ; Carnevale, Longinelli, Caputo, Barbieri, & Landini, ; Clauzon et al, ; Krijgsman, Stoica, Vasiliev, & Popov, ; Marzocchi, Flecker, van Baak, Lunt, & Krijgsman, ; Orszag‐Sperber, ; Popescu et al, ; Popescu et al, ; Popescu, Dobrinescu, Suc, & Couto, ; Rouchy & Caruso, ; Roveri, Bertini, Cosentino, et al, ; Roveri, Lugli, Manzi, Gennari, & Schreiber, ; Roveri, Manzi, et al, ; Stoica, Krijgsman, Fortuin, & Gliozzi, ). Moreover, some controversial aspects even concern the chronostratigraphic definition of the Zanclean Stage (Van Couvering, Castradori, Cita, Hilgen, & Rio, ), mainly due to the paucity of reliable biostratigraphic markers (see discussions in Roveri, Bertini, Cipollari, et al, ; Popescu et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A new chronostratigraphic and palaeoenvironmental framework for the end of the Messinian salinity crisis in the Sorbas Basin (Betic Cordillera, southern Spain)

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

New palaeontologic, sedimentologic, and Sr isotope data allow to reconstruct a high‐resolution chronostratigraphic and palaeoenvironmental framework of the continental‐marine transition at the Miocene–Pliocene boundary in the Sorbas Basin (Betic Cordillera, South‐eastern Spain). The presence of Reticulofenestra zancleana, Ceratolithus acutus, and R. pseudoumbilicus in a marine horizon sharply overlying the continental deposits of the Zorreras Member indicates that the Messinian salinity crisis ended in the Sorbas Basin synchronously with the other Mediterranean basins at the base of the Zanclean, within the MNN12a biozone. Our results suggest that the Zanclean flooding turned the Sorbas Basin into a shallow bay with limited exchange with the main Mediterranean basin, probably through narrow seaways connecting also the Almeria, Nijar, and Vera basins. Our results do not confirm previous hypotheses envisaging an older age for the return to fully marine conditions in the Sorbas Basin and is in a good agreement with the reconstructions suggesting that the Zorreras Mb. continental deposits are the local time‐equivalent of the latest Messinian Lago‐Mare phase during the last stage of the salinity crisis.

show abstract

Mediterranean outflow pump: An alternative mechanism for the Lago-mare and the end of the Messinian Salinity Crisis

Abstract: Using these numerical constraints, we propose a Mediterranean outflow pump as an 20 alternative scenario for the two most dramatic hydrological changes in the MSC: first the 21Halite-Lago-mare transition and then the Pliocene reestablishment of marine conditions. 22

Cited by 55 publications

References 31 publications

Precessional variability of⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr in the late Miocene Sorbas Basin: An interdisciplinary study of drivers of interbasin exchange

Precessional variability of⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr in the late Miocene Sorbas Basin: An interdisciplinary study of drivers of interbasin exchange

Changing seas in the Early–Middle Miocene of Central Europe: a Mediterranean approach to Paratethyan stratigraphy

A new chronostratigraphic and palaeoenvironmental framework for the end of the Messinian salinity crisis in the Sorbas Basin (Betic Cordillera, southern Spain)

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Mediterranean outflow pump: An alternative mechanism for the Lago-mare and the end of the Messinian Salinity Crisis

Abstract: Using these numerical constraints, we propose a Mediterranean outflow pump as an 20 alternative scenario for the two most dramatic hydrological changes in the MSC: first the 21Halite-Lago-mare transition and then the Pliocene reestablishment of marine conditions. 22

Cited by 55 publications

References 31 publications

Precessional variability of87Sr/86Sr in the late Miocene Sorbas Basin: An interdisciplinary study of drivers of interbasin exchange

Precessional variability of87Sr/86Sr in the late Miocene Sorbas Basin: An interdisciplinary study of drivers of interbasin exchange

Changing seas in the Early–Middle Miocene of Central Europe: a Mediterranean approach to Paratethyan stratigraphy

A new chronostratigraphic and palaeoenvironmental framework for the end of the Messinian salinity crisis in the Sorbas Basin (Betic Cordillera, southern Spain)

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Precessional variability of⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr in the late Miocene Sorbas Basin: An interdisciplinary study of drivers of interbasin exchange

Precessional variability of⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr in the late Miocene Sorbas Basin: An interdisciplinary study of drivers of interbasin exchange