The Messinian erosional surface and early Pliocene reflooding in the Alboran Sea: New insights from the Boudinar basin, Morocco

Cornée, Jean‐Jacques; Münch, Philippe; Achalhi, Mohammed; Merzeraud, Gilles; Azdimousa, Ali; Quillévéré, Frédéric; Melinte‐Dobrinescu, Mihaela Carmen; Chaix, Christian; Moussa, Abdelkhalak Ben; Lofi, Johanna; Séranne, Michel; Moisette, P.

doi:10.1016/j.sedgeo.2015.12.014

Cited by 42 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…Our new data and observations allow to establish for the first time with more accuracy the age and modality of the end of the salinity crisis in the Sorbas Basin. Our results, differently to what suggested by Clauzon et al (), document that fully and permanent marine conditions were reestablished in the Sorbas Basin only at the top of the Zorreras Mb., in a time window corresponding to the base of the Zanclean Stage, in agreement with what observed in other Mediterranean basins (see Caracuel, Soria, & Yébenes, ; Corbi et al, ; Cornée et al, , ; ; Roveri, Bertini, Cipollari, et al, ; Roveri, Bertini, Cosentino, et al, ; Van Couvering et al, ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

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

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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.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

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

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“…SW‐NE trending extensional detachments exhumed the metamorphic basement of the Boudinar and Melilla basins during the Tortonian indicating a top to the SW sense of movement (e.g., Azdimousa et al, ; Booth‐Rea et al, ) (Figures and ). This extension was synchronous with the left‐lateral movement of the Nekor Fault and resulted in the opening of continental basins at ~10.5 Ma (Chalouan et al, ; Cornée et al, ; Galindo‐Zaldívar et al, ). In the Melilla Basin, the low‐angle extensional detachments were cut by later WSW‐ENE trending systems of high‐angle normal faults recording a younger episode of N‐S extension.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Onshore‐offshore correlations indicate that the Boudinar and Melilla basins are the emergent parts of the SAB (Achalhi et al, ; Cornée et al, ) (Figure ). The two main structural trends in the Moroccan basins can be correlated with the extensional episodes recognized in the Alboran Sea.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

From Extension to Shortening: Tectonic Inversion Distributed in Time and Space in the Alboran Sea, Western Mediterranean

et al. 2017

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2D seismic reflection data tied to biostratigraphical and log information from wells in the central and southeastern Alboran Sea have allowed us to constrain the spatial and temporal distribution of rifting and inversion. Normal faults, tilted basement blocks, and growth wedges reveal a thinned continental crust that formed in response to NW‐SE extension. To the east, a secondary SW‐NE trend of extension affects the transitional crust adjacent to the oceanic Algerian Basin. The maximum thickness of syn‐rift sediments is ~3.5 km, and the oldest recorded deposits are Serravallian. The WNW‐ESE Yusuf fault formed a buttress separating and accommodating variable extension between two different tectonic domains: the thinned continental crust of Alboran and the oceanic spreading of the Algerian Basin. Late Tortonian to present‐day NW‐SE Africa/Eurasia plate convergence drove shortening and reactivation of some of the earlier extensional structures as reverse and strike‐slip faults, forming complex, compartmentalised subbasins. Tectonic inversion coexisted with the formation of new faults and folds. Inversion was partial along the Habibas Basin and Al‐Idrisi fault, but complete along the Alboran Ridge, where some SW‐NE trending faults were perpendicular to the recent NW‐SE plate convergence and were reactivated as thrusts. The WNW‐ESE Yusuf fault is oblique to the convergence vector, and therefore, reactivation is mainly expressed as transpressional deformation. Volcanic rocks intruded along the Alboran Ridge and Yusuf faults during the latest stages of extension formed rheological anisotropies that localised the later inversion.

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“…Marine sediments pertaining to this age interval are only preserved on the Atlantic and Mediterranean side of the corridor, suggesting that marine deposition continued in the Gharb and Boudinar-Melilla basins as embayments of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, respectively ( Fig. 1 and 12B; van Assen et al, 2006;Cornée et al, 2016).…”

Section: Late Messinian (Fig 12b)mentioning

confidence: 97%

Palaeogeographic evolution of the late Miocene Rifian Corridor (Morocco): Reconstructions from surface and subsurface data

Capella

Barhoun

Flecker

et al. 2018

Earth-Science Reviews

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The Rifian Corridor was one of the Mediterranean-Atlantic seaways that progressively restricted and caused the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC). Many key questions concerning the controls on the onset, progression and termination of the MSC remain unanswered mainly because the evolution of these seaways is poorly constrained. Uncertainties about the age of restriction and closure of the Rifian Corridor hamper full understanding of the hydrological exchange through the MSC gateways: required connections to sustain transport of salt into the Mediterranean for the primary-lower gypsum and halite stages. Here we present integrated surface-subsurface palaeogeographic reconstructions of the Rifian Corridor with improved age-control. Information about age and timing of the closure have been derived from high-resolution biostratigraphy, palaeoenvironmental indicators, sediment transport directions, and the analysis of published onshore subsurface (core and seismic) datasets. We applied modern taxonomic concepts to revise the biostratigraphy of the Rifian Corridor and propose astronomically-tuned, minimum-maximum ages for its successions. Finally, we summarise the palaeogeographic evolution in four time slices corresponding to the middle Tortonian (10.57-8.37), late Tortonian (8.37-7.25 Ma), early Messinian (7.25-6.35 Ma), and late Messinian (6.35-5.33 Ma). Several successions record the closure of the corridor via a continuous marine to continental-lacustrine transition. The youngest dated marine sediments represent a good approximation of the age of seaway closure. The closure of the South Rifian Corridor is constrained to 7.1-6.9 Ma; that of the North Rifian Corridor is more uncertain and ranges from 7.35 to ca. 7 Ma. We conclude that the Rifian Corridor was already closed in the early Messinian and did not contribute to the restriction events that resulted in the MSC. Because the Betic Corridor is also closed by the early Messinian, the modern Gibraltar Straits remain the sole option in the Western Mediterranean as last Messinian seaway that was open during the MSC. Our results imply that the Gibraltar Straits could have been established as the exclusive Mediterranean-Atlantic portal already in the late Miocene, and therefore we suggest that future field and drilling campaigns should target the Alboran Sea and the Gibraltar region to investigate water exchange before and during the Messinian Salinity Crisis and its impact on Atlantic circulation and global climate.

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The Messinian erosional surface and early Pliocene reflooding in the Alboran Sea: New insights from the Boudinar basin, Morocco

Cited by 42 publications

References 59 publications

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

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

From Extension to Shortening: Tectonic Inversion Distributed in Time and Space in the Alboran Sea, Western Mediterranean

Palaeogeographic evolution of the late Miocene Rifian Corridor (Morocco): Reconstructions from surface and subsurface data

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