Amplitude of late Miocene sea-level fluctuations from karst development in reef-slope deposits (SE Spain)

Evolution of a Miocene canyon and its carbonate fill in the pre-evaporitic eastern Mediterranean

“…Buchbinder et al (1993) attributed the Porites reefs to in-situ carbonate production at the canyon margins during the sea-level highstand that predates the thirdorder cycle 3.3 from Haq et al's (1987) curve. This sea-level highstand, approximately between 6.05 and 5.90 Ma when extrapolated to Miller et al's (2011) curve, is approximately coincident with the last progradation stages of the Porites reefs in the Sorbas Basin in the westernmost part of the Mediterranean (Sánchez-Almazo et al 2007;Reolid et al 2016). In the Sorbas Basin, the last progradation stages of reef occurred during a relative sea-level highstand and ended with an abrupt sea-level fall that produced a regional erosion surface and the occurrence of onlapping evaporites (Riding et al 1991;Martín and Braga 1994;Sánchez-Almazo et al 2007;Reolid et al 2016).…”

“…This sea-level highstand, approximately between 6.05 and 5.90 Ma when extrapolated to Miller et al's (2011) curve, is approximately coincident with the last progradation stages of the Porites reefs in the Sorbas Basin in the westernmost part of the Mediterranean (Sánchez-Almazo et al 2007;Reolid et al 2016). In the Sorbas Basin, the last progradation stages of reef occurred during a relative sea-level highstand and ended with an abrupt sea-level fall that produced a regional erosion surface and the occurrence of onlapping evaporites (Riding et al 1991;Martín and Braga 1994;Sánchez-Almazo et al 2007;Reolid et al 2016). In the case of the Beer Sheva Canyon, such an erosion surface is not visible because of the outcrop nature, but Buchbinder et al (1993) described the occurrence of Upper Miocene evaporites in cores that overlie the clinoform units associated with the reefs of the Pattish Formation.…”

Mixed carbonate-siliciclastic contourite drift deposits associated with the entrance of an Atlantic-Mediterranean corridor (late Miocene, southwest Spain)

“…E) The tidal deposits of Unit 3 represent the sedimentation in the Osuna area after the closure of the Guadalhorce Corridor (white dashed line). (Reolid et al, 2016b), together with the deepening of the interface between two water masses at the exit of a strait (Millot, 2014), can explain the different bottom current directions recorded in the Osuna Drift. During relative sea-level highstands, dense saline bottom waters flowed from the Messinian through the Guadalhorce Corridor and then descended until reaching the deeper environment at the exit of the strait, where bottom currents generated the northwest migrating dunes found at the bottom of the Osuna Quarry (Figs.…”