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

Abstract

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.

The synthetic seismic expression of the Messinian salinity crisis from onshore records: Implications for shallow‐ to deep‐water correlations

“…along basin margins. The transition to the Pliocene is marked by an abrupt facies change from the reddish silts of the Zorreras Mb (Figure 7e,f) to nearshore deposits (grey marls and calcarenites with marine shell layers; Roveri et al, 2018).…”

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

“…To address the timing of the introduction of new fluids, we need further studies. However, our data indicate that the crystals subjected to intra-Messinian mass-wasting gravitational processes and exhumation (Vena del Gesso Basin: Roveri et al, 2006a;Sorbas and Almeria Basins: Omodeo Salé et al, 2012;Roveri et al, 2019;Sicily: Roveri et al, 2006b, 2008Manzi et al, 2021;Piedmont Basin: Dela Pierre et al, 2007;Cyprus: Manzi et al, 2016) show the largest FI size and yielded the lowest salinity values. Conversely, the strata still buried (Sabbioncello, Italy; Manzi et al, 2020) or exhumed during the Quaternary (Eraclea Minoa, Sicily) (Manzi et al, 2009) show the smallest pristine inclusions and the largest proportion of salinity values falling within the GPF.…”

Quantitative analysis of Calabrian planktic foraminifer assemblages and paleoecology of the Eastern Mediterranean from the onshore epibathyal sedimentary archives (Mersin, Turkey)

“…The MSC, the event that was triggered by the uplift of the Gibraltar Strait, resulted in almost complete desiccation of the Mediterranean Sea (Hsü et al, 1973(Hsü et al, , 1977Krijgsman et al, 1999Krijgsman et al, , 2018Loget and van den Driessche, 2006). The MSC was followed by the "Lago-Mare" event, the megaflood that occurred during the Zanclean at around 5.33 My when the Atlantic waters filled the Mediterranean Basin as the Strait of Gibraltar opened, which marked the ending of the Miocene and starting of the Pliocene stage (van Couvering et al, 2000;Garcia-Castellanos et al, 2009, 2020Guerra-Merchán et al, 2010;Cipollari et al, 2012;Cosentino et al, 2013;Roveri et al, 2019). In Turkey, Zanclean and post-Zanclean marine deposits are found onshore in the southern (Yıldız et al, 2003;Cipollari et al, 2012;Faranda et al, 2013;Tekin et al, 2019) and southwestern (Akay et al, 1985;Glover and Robertson, 1998;Poisson et al, 2003;Nazik, 2004;Çiner et al, 2008) Central Anatolian Plateau as well-preserved outcrops.…”