Architecture and sequence stratigraphy of the Upper Coralline Limestone formation, Malta-Implications for Eastern Mediterranean restriction prior to the Messinian Salinity Crisis.

ABSTRACT: The Eastern and Western Mediterranean are separated by an elevated plateau that regulates water exchange between these two basins. The Maltese archipelago, situated atop this topographic high, offers a unique window into the evolution of this plateau in the lead up to the Messinian Salinity Crisis. The Upper Coralline Limestone Formation was deposited between the late Tortonian and the early Messinian and was probably terminated by palaeoceanographic events related to the Messinian Salinity Crisis. It represents the youngest Miocene sedimentary deposits outcropping in the Maltese archipelago. This shallow-water carbonate unit can be used to trace palaeoenvironmental changes atop the sill between the Eastern and Western Mediterranean and to explain the possible water flow restrictions to th

SUBMITTER: Bialik OM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8359163 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature