The Messinian Sicilian stratigraphy revisited: new insights for the Messinian salinity crisis

Roveri, Marco; Lugli, Stefano; Manzi, Vinicio; Schreiber, B. Charlotte

doi:10.1111/j.1365-3121.2008.00842.x

Cited by 161 publications

(192 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Schematic composite section of the main Mediterranean lithologies over the Messinian Salinity Crisis, including the corresponding salinities in which the successions were deposited/precipitated (after Ivanovic et al, 2013a). Timing of event boundaries are after Roveri et al (2008) and references therein.…”

Section: Gypsum -Clastic Alternationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling global-scale climate impacts of the late Miocene Messinian Salinity Crisis

et al. 2014

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Abstract. Late Miocene tectonic changes in MediterraneanAtlantic connectivity and climatic changes caused Mediterranean salinity to fluctuate dramatically, including a tenfold increase and near-freshening. Recent proxy-and modelbased evidence suggests that at times during this Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC, 5.96-5.33 Ma), highly saline and highly fresh Mediterranean water flowed into the North Atlantic Ocean, whilst at others, no Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW) reached the Atlantic. By running extreme, sensitivity-type experiments with a fully coupled oceanatmosphere general circulation model, we investigate the potential of these various MSC MOW scenarios to impact global-scale climate.The simulations suggest that although the effect remains relatively small, MOW had a greater influence on North Atlantic Ocean circulation and climate than it does today. We also find that depending on the presence, strength and salinity of MOW, the MSC could have been capable of cooling mid-high northern latitudes by a few degrees, with the greatest cooling taking place in the Labrador, Greenland-IcelandNorwegian and Barents seas. With hypersaline MOW, a component of North Atlantic Deep Water formation shifts to the Mediterranean, strengthening the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) south of 35 • N by 1.5-6 Sv. With hyposaline MOW, AMOC completely shuts down, inducing a bipolar climate anomaly with strong cooling in the north (mainly −1 to −3 • C, but up to −8 • C) and weaker warming in the south (up to +0.5 to +2.7 • C).These simulations identify key target regions and climate variables for future proxy reconstructions to provide the best and most robust test cases for (a) assessing Messinian model performance, (b) evaluating Mediterranean-Atlantic connectivity during the MSC and (c) establishing whether or not the MSC could ever have affected global-scale climate.

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Section: Gypsum -Clastic Alternationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling global-scale climate impacts of the late Miocene Messinian Salinity Crisis

et al. 2014

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“…Its geological record ( Fig. 1) consists of sulfate and halite deposits with a volume of more than 1 3 10 6 km 3 (Hsü et al 1978;Montadert et al 1978;Rouchy and Caruso 2006) accumulated in less than 700 ka (Krijgsman et al 1999) in both shallow-water and deep-water settings (CIESM 2008;Roveri et al 2008). The climatic conditions and forcing mechanisms that were active at different temporal scales during the evaporite deposition are still largely unknown.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(CIESM 2008). The discussion of alternative interpretations supported by other research teams is beyond the aim of this paper; here we simply adopt the stratigraphic framework proposed by CIESM (2008) and its most recent refinements (Roveri et al 2008;Manzi et al 2009;Lugli et al 2010;Manzi et al 2011) that subdivide the Messinian salinity crisis into three main evolutionary stages, each one characterized by peculiar evaporite deposits recording different hydrological and paleoceanographic conditions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A consensus has been reached in considering that evaporite deposition was controlled by the variation of Earth's orbital parameters and particularly by precession that drove an , 20 kyr alternation of drier vs. more humid conditions ( Fig. 2; Krijgsman et al 1999;van der Laan et al 2006;CIESM 2008;Roveri et al 2008;Manzi et al 2009;Lugli et al 2010). These mechanisms explain the decameter-scale lithological cyclicity given by the rhythmic alternation of evaporitic and fine-grained terrigenous bodies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Figs. 2,3), dominated by sulfate evaporites, corresponds to the deposition of massive bottom-grown selenite (Primary Lower Gypsum, PLG; Roveri et al 2008) in semiisolated, marginal subbasins, whereas only organic-rich shale and dolomitic limestone accumulated in deeper and/or more open settings ). The PLG evaporites were deposited in small and moderately deep (, 200 m), episodically oxygenated basins, and precipitated from a relatively homogeneous Atlantic-fed water body with a restricted outflow and a significant contribution of continental waters Lugli et al 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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High-Frequency Cyclicity In the Mediterranean Messinian Evaporites: Evidence For Solar-Lunar Climate Forcing

Manzi¹,

Gennari²,

Lugli³

et al. 2012

Journal of Sedimentary Research

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The deposition of varved sedimentary sequences is usually controlled by climate conditions. The study of two late Miocene evaporite successions (one halite and the other gypsum) consisting of annual varves has been carried out to reconstruct the paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental conditions existing during the acme of the Messinian salinity crisis, , 6 Ma, when thick evaporite deposits accumulated on the floor of the Mediterranean basin. Spectral analyses of these varved evaporitic successions reveal significant periodicity peaks at around 3-5, 9, 11-13, 20-27 and 50-100 yr. A comparison with modern precipitation data in the western Mediterranean shows that during the acme of the Messinian salinity crisis the climate was not in a permanent evaporitic stage, but in a dynamic situation where evaporite deposition was controlled by quasi-periodic climate oscillations with similarity to modern analogs including Quasi-Biennial Oscillation, El Niño Southern Oscillation, and decadal to secular lunar-and solar-induced cycles. Particularly we found a significant quasi-decadal oscillation with a prominent 9-year peak that is commonly also found in modern temperature records and is present in the contemporary Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) index and Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) index. These cyclicities are common to both ancient and modern climate records because they can be associated with solar and solar-lunar tidal cycles.During the Messinian the Mediterranean basin as well as the global ocean were characterized by different configurations than at present, in terms of continent distribution, ocean size, geography, hydrological connections, and ice-sheet volumes. The recognition of modern-style climate oscillations during the Messinian suggests that, although local geographic factors acted as pre-conditioning factors turning the Mediterranean Sea into a giant brine pool, external climate forcings, regulated by solarlunar cycles and largely independent from local geographic factors, modulated the deposition of the evaporites.

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Paleoclimate reconstruction during the Messinian evaporative drawdown of the Mediterranean Basin: Insights from microthermometry on halite fluid inclusions

Speranza

Cosentino

Tecce

et al. 2013

Geochem Geophys Geosyst

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[1] Data constraining the paleoenvironmental conditions during the Messinian evaporative drawdown of the Mediterranean basin are still conflicting. Here we present a comprehensive paleoclimatic reconstruction during Messinian halite deposition from several Italian sites. We performed fluid inclusion analyses to define better both the composition of the Mediterranean water body and the paleotemperatures of the Messinian brine during halite crystallization. We measured homogenization temperatures on 218 primary all-liquid fluid inclusions in Messinian halite from the Volterra, Crotone, and Caltanissetta evaporite basins. These measurements provided mean homogenization temperatures of 17-18 C, with a range between 10-11 C and 28-29 C, which should be close to the SST of the Mediterranean Sea during halite deposition. The occurrence of major elements such as Cl, Na, Mg, S, Ca, and K within the halite fluid inclusions, together with the presence of minerals such as pentahydrite, polyhalite, and Ca-, K-, and Mg-sulfates, indicates that these salt bodies originated from mainly marine water. Taking into account both the present-day annual SST of the Mediterranean Sea around the sampling sites, which ranges between 18 and 20 C, and the lower latitude of the Mediterranean Basin during the Messinian Salinity Crisis, our homogenization temperatures point to a colder climate during the Messinian halite deposition compared to the present interglacial climate stage. This conclusion is consistent with halite deposition during a Late Miocene glacial interval (TG12).

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The Messinian Sicilian stratigraphy revisited: new insights for the Messinian salinity crisis

Cited by 161 publications

References 19 publications

Modelling global-scale climate impacts of the late Miocene Messinian Salinity Crisis

Modelling global-scale climate impacts of the late Miocene Messinian Salinity Crisis

High-Frequency Cyclicity In the Mediterranean Messinian Evaporites: Evidence For Solar-Lunar Climate Forcing

Paleoclimate reconstruction during the Messinian evaporative drawdown of the Mediterranean Basin: Insights from microthermometry on halite fluid inclusions

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