At the end of the Messinian salinity crisis, changes in the\ud
palaeoceanography and palaeoclimate induced a transition\ud
from hypersaline to hyposaline conditions in the Mediterranean\ud
water body. Detailed investigation of natural radioactivity and\ud
microfacies analyses of two early post-evaporitic Messinian\ud
sections show that the transition occurred in poorly oxygenated\ud
and well-stratified water masses. These transitional\ud
deposits, which mainly consist of marls and CaCO3-rich\ud
horizons, are generally well laminated and totally barren\ud
in benthic and planktonic fauna. The presence of barite, small\ud
(5–8 lm) authigenic framboidal pyrite, and high values of U\ud
indicate persistent anoxic conditions during the early postevaporitic\ud
Messinian stage in the Adriatic sub-basin of the\ud
Mediterranean Sea. The presence of post-evaporitic welllaminated\ud
barren deposits from both Mediterranean borderland\ud
sections and ODP sites suggests that these anoxic\ud
conditions extended to other sub-basins of the Mediterranean\ud
region
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