The Messinian Salinity Crisis: Past and future of a great challenge for marine sciences

Roveri, Marco; Flecker, Rachel; Krijgsman, Wout; Lofi, Johanna; Lugli, Stefano; Manzi, Vinicio; Sierro, Francisco J.; Bertini, Adèle; Camerlenghi, Angelo; Lange, Gert J. de; Govers, Rob; Hilgen, F.J.; Hübscher, Christian; Meijer, Paul; Stoica, Marius

doi:10.1016/j.margeo.2014.02.002

Cited by 510 publications

(695 citation statements)

References 256 publications

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“…On the contrary, the same authors defended a submarine MES in the entire Mediterranean Basin but restricted to the continental slope, thereby denying its fluvial origin (Roveri et al, 2014b). However, the development of the MES during the peak of the MSC is generally widely accepted (see for example: CIESM, 2008; Roveri et al, 2014a) because it has been observed all around the Mediterranean Basin . Technically speaking, the MES can be observed onland in the bottom and edges of the peripheral basins, as we did in the Roussillon Basin (Figs.…”

Section: Exposed Evidencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Roussillon Basin (S. France): A case-study to distinguish local and regional events between 6 and 3 Ma

Clauzon

Strat²,

Duvail³

et al. 2015

Marine and Petroleum Geology

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The Roussillon Basin is a non-silled Miocene sedimentary basin filling a late Oligocene-early Miocene graben. The basin was intensively impacted by the 2 Messinian fluvial erosion, as evidenced in exposed sections, in seismic profiles and in deep boreholes drilled for hydrocarbon exploration. As the basin was open to the Mediterranean Sea, the huge drop in sea level at the peak of the Messinian Salinity Crisis is clearly recorded, along with the subsequent sudden marine reflooding and the resulting prograding sedimentary filling, particularly in Gilbert-type fan deltas. Here, the Messinian Erosional Surface (MES) is accurately mapped in a high-resolution document, which corrects the confusion resulting from the set of 1:50,000 scale regional maps. Aim of the 3D reconstruction of the MES is to modernize geological mapping, a crucial challenge for Mediterranean and peripheral areas. Thanks to a reliable chronostratigraphy provided by planktonic foraminifers, calcareous nannofossils, micro-and macro-mammal remains, paleomagnetism and a 10 Be cosmogenic nuclide-derived study, our reconstruction is one of the most comprehensive models of changes in sea level from 6 to 3 Ma. After the marine reflooding of the Mediterranean Basin at 5.46 Ma, the fluctuations in sea level recorded in the Roussillon Basin were forced by global changes. Following reflooding, the Prades large olistostrome collapsed prepared by the previous exhumation along the Canigou fault. The olistostrome is a good example of a local accident resulting from Messinian events. The exceptional changes in sea level at the peak of the Messinian Salinity Crisis deeply marked the Roussillon Basin, momentarily overprinting the Pyrenean orogenesis.

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Section: Exposed Evidencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Roussillon Basin (S. France): A case-study to distinguish local and regional events between 6 and 3 Ma

Clauzon

Strat²,

Duvail³

et al. 2015

Marine and Petroleum Geology

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“…The sedimentary record of this event involves complex feedback between geodynamics, climate and biota, and resulted in a stratigraphy that left an indelible signature in the postMessinian evolution of the Mediterranean Basin, in addition to important implications for hydrocarbon exploration. Up to now, a general agreement on what actually happened during the MSC, particularly in the deepest settings of the Mediterranean Basin, is still far from clear: consequently, several different scenarios of the crisis are available (see Roveri et al 2014a).…”

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confidence: 99%

The Messinian salinity crisis: open problems and possible implications for Mediterranean petroleum systems

Roveri

Gennari

Lugli

et al. 2016

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A general agreement on what actually happened during the Messinian salinity crisis (MSC) has been reached in the minds of most geologists but, in the deepest settings of the Mediterranean Basin, the picture is still far from being finalized and several different scenarios for the crisis have been proposed, with different significant implications for hydrocarbon exploration. The currently accepted MSC paradigm of the 'shallow-water deep-basin' model, which implies high-amplitude sea-level oscillations (> 1500 m) of the Mediterranean up to its desiccation, is usually considered as fact. As a consequence, it is on this model that the implications of the MSC events on the Mediterranean petroleum systems are commonly based.In fact, an alternative, deep-water, non-desiccated scenario of the MSC is possible: it (i) implies the permanence of a large water body in the Mediterranean throughout the entire Messinian salinity crisis, but with strongly reduced Atlantic connections; and (ii) envisages a genetic link between Messinian erosion of the Mediterranean margins and deep brine development.In this work, we focus on the strong implications of an assessment of the petroleum systems of the Mediterranean and adjoining areas (e.g. the Black Sea Basin) that can be based on such a non-desiccated MSC scenario. In particular, the near-full basin model delivers a more realistic definition of Messinian source-rock generation and distribution, as well as of the magnitude of water-unloading processes and their effects on hydrocarbon accumulation.

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“…Two successive steps have been identified with a first sea-level drop of approximately 150 m between 5.97 Ma and 5.60 Ma followed by the major sea-level drop of approximately 1500 m between 5.60 Ma and the end of the MSC [Clauzon et al, 1996;Roveri et al, 2014;Bache et al, 2015;Clauzon et al, 2015], proposed to be placed at 5.46 Ma [Bache et al, 2012]. The MSC is also characterized by different effects that occurred during the Pliocene.…”

Section: Well-documented Large-scale Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

Crustal Strain in the Marmara Pull‐Apart Region Associated With the Propagation Process of the North Anatolian Fault

et al. 2018

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Key Points:• Structural map and geological cross-section of the Ganos-Gelibolu fold system in the Dardanelles region.• Timing, amount of shortening associated to the propagation of the North Anatolian Fault deduced from mapping and critical revision of the stratigraphy.• Reconstruction of the westward propagation of the NAF in the Dardanelles region. AbstractPropagation processes of plate-scale faults through continental lithosphere are poorly documented. The North Anatolian fault (NAF) is a continental right-lateral transform with striking evidence for propagation processes in the Marmara Sea pull-apart region. Earlier work [Armijo et al., 1999] suggests that in the Dardanelles, where the principal, northern branch of that fault (NNAF) enters into the Aegean: (1) a fold-thrust system has progressively developed above the NNAF fault tip, at the WSW corner of the Marmara Sea pull-apart. The main anticline formed there was sheared and its SW half laterally offset by ~70 km to the SW; (2) the timing of structure development appears correlated with sea-level changes associated with the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC). Our new description of the Dardanelles (or Ganos-Gelibolu) fold-thrust system is based on structural mapping, field observations and calcareous nannoplankton analyses to date key sedimentary units. Our results provide tight constraints on the main pulse of folding associated with propagation of the tip of the NNAF: it took place in the late Miocene to earliest Pliocene (5.60 to 5.04 Ma), before deposition of undeformed Pliocene marine sediments. The folding is mostly coeval with the MSC and accommodated several kilometers of shortening at the fault tip. After full propagation of the NNAF up to the surface, the folded structure was sheared and right-laterally offset, with an average 14 mm/yr of slip-rate during the past ~5 Myrs. A reconstruction of tectonic evolution suggests a flower structure nucleating and taking root at the tip of the fault.

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The Messinian Salinity Crisis: Past and future of a great challenge for marine sciences

Cited by 510 publications

References 256 publications

The Roussillon Basin (S. France): A case-study to distinguish local and regional events between 6 and 3 Ma

The Roussillon Basin (S. France): A case-study to distinguish local and regional events between 6 and 3 Ma

The Messinian salinity crisis: open problems and possible implications for Mediterranean petroleum systems

Crustal Strain in the Marmara Pull‐Apart Region Associated With the Propagation Process of the North Anatolian Fault

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