The Messinian Erosional Crisis is a phase in the Messinian evolution of the central Mediterranean basin resulting from major drawdown of the Mediterranean seawater (the "Messinian Salinity Crisis").
The Messinian is in the geologic timescale the last age or uppermost stage of the Miocene. It spans the time between 7.246 ± 0.005 Ma and 5.333 ± 0.005 Ma. It follows the Tortonian and is followed by the Zanclean, the first age of the Pliocene.
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa and on the east by the Levant. Although the sea is sometimes considered a part of the Atlantic Ocean, it is usually identified as a separate body of water. Geological evidence indicates that around 5.9 million years ago, the Mediterranean was cut off from the Atlantic and was partly or completely desiccated over a period of some 600,000 years, the Messinian salinity crisis, before being refilled by the Zanclean flood about 5.3 million years ago.
Seawater, or salt water, is water from a sea or ocean. On average, seawater in the world's oceans has a salinity of about 3.5%. This means that every kilogram of seawater has approximately 35 grams (1.2 oz) of dissolved salts. Average density at the surface is 1.025 kg/L. Seawater is denser than both fresh water and pure water because the dissolved salts increase the mass by a larger proportion than the volume. The freezing point of seawater decreases as salt concentration increases. At typical salinity, it freezes at about −2 °C (28 °F). The coldest seawater ever recorded was in 2010, in a stream under an Antarctic glacier, and measured −2.6 °C (27.3 °F). Seawater pH is typically limited to a range between 7.5 and 8.4. However, there is no universally accepted reference pH-scale for seawater and the difference between measurements based on different reference scales may be up to 0.14 units.
As outlined in numerous studies, erosional events along the margins of the Mediterranean Basin during the Messinian timespan, before and during the evaporite deposition, were common. [1] Those authors showed that also predating the deposition of the first cycle of evaporites, a major erosional phase can be observed along the basin margins, corresponding to a major "relative sea level drop", associated with tectonic activity (marking the end of the so-called "Mes-1" unconformity bound depositional sequence). Following this assumption that this major event corresponds to the major Messinian drawdown, Bache et al. (2009) [2] concluded that the Mediterranean bathymetry significantly decreased before the precipitation of central basin evaporites. Van Dijk et al. (1998) [1] had termed this end member scenario the "Hunchback Scenario". Regarding these works, a deep water formation for central Messinian evaporites seems unlikely. The assumption that central basin evaporites partly deposited under a high bathymetry and before the major phase of erosion should imply the observation of a major detritic event above evaporites in the basin. Such a depositional geometry has not been observed on data, as the detritic wedges are merely confined to the basin marginal areas.
In earth science, erosion is the action of surface processes that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location. This natural process is caused by the dynamic activity of erosive agents, that is, water, ice (glaciers), snow, air (wind), plants, animals, and humans. In accordance with these agents, erosion is sometimes divided into water erosion, glacial erosion, snow erosion, wind (aeolic) erosion, zoogenic erosion, and anthropogenic erosion. The particulate breakdown of rock or soil into clastic sediment is referred to as physical or mechanical erosion; this contrasts with chemical erosion, where soil or rock material is removed from an area by its dissolving into a solvent, followed by the flow away of that solution. Eroded sediment or solutes may be transported just a few millimetres, or for thousands of kilometres.
Evaporite is the term for a water-soluble mineral sediment that results from concentration and crystallization by evaporation from an aqueous solution. There are two types of evaporite deposits: marine, which can also be described as ocean deposits, and non-marine, which are found in standing bodies of water such as lakes. Evaporites are considered sedimentary rocks and are formed by chemical sediments.
Relative sea level is defined as the sea level that is observed with respect to a land-based reference frame. It is often contrasted with eustatic sea level, which is a measure of the total mass or volume of the oceans. Relative sea level can change by the processes changing eustatic sea level, but also by changes on land such as subsidence and isostatic rebound.
Another major point of discussion regards the presence of erosional deep canyons along the continental margins of the Basins. These should be expected to be present because of the assumption of a major sea level drop. In fact, they have been described by several authors (summarized in e.g. Clauzon et al., 1996). [3] Most of them are infilled by early Pliocene sediments. As outlined in van Dijk et al. (1998) [1] this phenomenon can be explained in two ways: A major eustatic sea level drop, or a tectonic uplift of the margins (as one associated with a minor sea level drop). It constitutes, therefore, not a real proof for the desiccation of an existing originally deep basin.
A canyon or gorge is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic timescales. Rivers have a natural tendency to cut through underlying surfaces, eventually wearing away rock layers as sediments are removed downstream. A river bed will gradually reach a baseline elevation, which is the same elevation as the body of water into which the river drains. The processes of weathering and erosion will form canyons when the river's headwaters and estuary are at significantly different elevations, particularly through regions where softer rock layers are intermingled with harder layers more resistant to weathering.
The continental margin is one of the three major zones of the ocean floor, the other two being deep-ocean basins and mid-ocean ridges. The continental margin is the shallow water area found in proximity to continent. The continental margin consists of three different features: the continental rise, the continental slope, and the continental shelf. Continental margins constitute about 28% of the oceanic area.[1]
Mean sea level (MSL) is an average level of the surface of one or more of Earth's bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datum – a standardised geodetic datum – that is used, for example, as a chart datum in cartography and marine navigation, or, in aviation, as the standard sea level at which atmospheric pressure is measured to calibrate altitude and, consequently, aircraft flight levels. A common and relatively straightforward mean sea-level standard is instead the midpoint between a mean low and mean high tide at a particular location.
The third much-disputed element is the recognition of the so-called "MES", the Messinian Erosional Surface. This surface can well be traced in seismic sections along the Basin margins, showing angular and non-angular unconformities, somewhere within the evaporite deposits, or between evaporite and non-evaporite deposits. Nice examples are shown by Roveri et al. (2008). [4] As already extensively discussed in van Dijk (1992), [5] the erosional surfaces within the Messinian clastic and evaporitic and mixed series are often confused. Only very high resolution and complete series such as those in the Crotone Basin in Calabria can solve this matter, and the authors have shown that the erosional surfaces and there probable relationships with relative sea level fluctuations and tectonic activity can be mapped well (see review in van Dijk et al., 1998 [1] ).
Seismology is the scientific study of earthquakes and the propagation of elastic waves through the Earth or through other planet-like bodies. The field also includes studies of earthquake environmental effects such as tsunamis as well as diverse seismic sources such as volcanic, tectonic, oceanic, atmospheric, and artificial processes such as explosions. A related field that uses geology to infer information regarding past earthquakes is paleoseismology. A recording of earth motion as a function of time is called a seismogram. A seismologist is a scientist who does research in seismology.
Calabria, known in antiquity as Bruttium, is a region in Southern Italy.
