Article:
Abstracts book of 13th Congress RCMNS, 2-6 September 2009, Naples, Italy “Earth System Evolution and the Mediterranean Area”, 2-6 September 2009, Naples, Italy, Acta Naturalia de “L’Ateneo Parmense”, Parma: 45 (1), p.320.
Authors:
François Bache, Speranta-Maria Popescu, Christian Gorini, Jean-Pierre Suc, Georges Clauzon, Marina Rabineau, Jean-Louis Olivet, Juan Baztan, Jean-Loup Rubino, Mihaela Carmen Melinte-Dobrinescu, Ferran Estrada, Laurent Londeix, Rolando Armijo, Bertrand Meyer, Laurent Jolivet, Gwénaël Jouannic, Estelle Leroux, Daniel Aslanian, Antonio Tadeu Dos Reis, Nikola Dumurdžanov, Ivan Zagorchev, Vesna Lesić, Dragana Tomić, M. Namık Çağatay, Gülsen Ucarkus, Ziyadin Çakır.
Abstract:
The Messinian Salinity Crisis resulted from a significant lowering of the Mediterranean Sea’s base level, one of the most outstanding events of the regional geological history. Considering onshore and offshore observations, the subsequent reflooding is generally considered to have been very sudden. We present here a synthesis of seismic offshore evidences from the Gulf of Lions (Bache, 2008; Bache et al, accepted) and new data from Italy and Turkey leading to a new concept about the reflooding of the Mediterranean Basin after the Messinian Salinity Crisis. After the deposition of evaporites in the central Provence Basin, a two-step process is highlighted (Figs. 1 and 2). The refilling was first moderate accompanied by transgressive ravinement: the landward migration of the shoreline and the abrasive effect of waves and tides flattened previous erosional features. During the second step, the refilling was rapid so as to “preserve” the subaerial unconformity linked to the Messinian erosion. The amplitude of these two successive rises of sea-level has been evaluated. Between these two steps, the paleoshoreline just preceding the complete and sudden reflooding at 5.332 Ma has been preserved and represents a major paleogeographic marker of the first step of the reflooding. The use of a two-step reflooding and of these markers at the Mediterranean scale is illustrated by several examples