Kilometric sea level changes during the Messinian salinity crisis caused by river erosion and climate.

ABSTRACT: The Messinian salinity crisis (MSC) was a short period of isolation of the Mediterranean Sea that caused the precipitation of a million cubic kilometers of salt. The puzzling sedimentary record that formed after this deposition yields conflicting values of the extent of desiccation. Estimations range from a full exposure of most of the Mediterranean seafloor based on shallow fossil fauna found in the abyss to a nearly full Mediterranean scenario as suggested by similar, fresher-water deposits ubiquitous along the coastline: the so-called Lago-Mare formation. Using a landscape evolution model of the drawdown stage constrained with paleoclimate and sediment budgets, we show that the propagation of an erosional wave into the surrounding continents added a gradual sea level rise superimposed o

SUBMITTER: Garcia-Castellanos D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12248288 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature