Cargando…
Architecture and sequence stratigraphy of the Upper Coralline Limestone formation, Malta—Implications for Eastern Mediterranean restriction prior to the Messinian Salinity Crisis
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....
Autores principales: | , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
John Wiley and Sons Inc.
2021
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8359163/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34413980 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/dep2.138 |
_version_ | 1783737487431041024 |
---|---|
author | Bialik, Or M. Zammit, Raymond Micallef, Aaron |
author_facet | Bialik, Or M. Zammit, Raymond Micallef, Aaron |
author_sort | Bialik, Or M. |
collection | PubMed |
description | 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 the Eastern Mediterranean that could have preceded the Messinian Salinity Crisis. Here field surveys, and analysis of the depositional environment within the Upper Coralline Limestone in Malta, are combined with recently acquired multichannel seismic reflection profiles between Malta and Gozo, to reconstruct the depositional sequence in the Malta Plateau during the late Miocene. The Upper Coralline Limestone consists of multiple coralline and larger benthic foraminifera dominated facies, extending from subtidal to intertidal environments. These accumulated in two depositional cycles observed in both outcrop and seismic reflection data. Each cycle exhibits an early aggradation–progradation phase followed by a progradation phase and a final aggradation phase. These manifest themselves in the outcrops as shallowing and deepening upwards phases. These were deposited above a deep water unit and are indicative of a preceding uplift phase followed by filling of the accommodation space through the deposition of the Upper Coralline Limestone Formation in shallow marine depths. The presence of this highly elevated sill during the late Miocene could have restricted circulation to the eastern basin. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8359163 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | John Wiley and Sons Inc. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-83591632021-08-17 Architecture and sequence stratigraphy of the Upper Coralline Limestone formation, Malta—Implications for Eastern Mediterranean restriction prior to the Messinian Salinity Crisis Bialik, Or M. Zammit, Raymond Micallef, Aaron Depos Rec Original Research Articles 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 the Eastern Mediterranean that could have preceded the Messinian Salinity Crisis. Here field surveys, and analysis of the depositional environment within the Upper Coralline Limestone in Malta, are combined with recently acquired multichannel seismic reflection profiles between Malta and Gozo, to reconstruct the depositional sequence in the Malta Plateau during the late Miocene. The Upper Coralline Limestone consists of multiple coralline and larger benthic foraminifera dominated facies, extending from subtidal to intertidal environments. These accumulated in two depositional cycles observed in both outcrop and seismic reflection data. Each cycle exhibits an early aggradation–progradation phase followed by a progradation phase and a final aggradation phase. These manifest themselves in the outcrops as shallowing and deepening upwards phases. These were deposited above a deep water unit and are indicative of a preceding uplift phase followed by filling of the accommodation space through the deposition of the Upper Coralline Limestone Formation in shallow marine depths. The presence of this highly elevated sill during the late Miocene could have restricted circulation to the eastern basin. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2021-03-02 2021-06 /pmc/articles/PMC8359163/ /pubmed/34413980 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/dep2.138 Text en © 2021 The Authors. The Depositional Record published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of International Association of Sedimentologists. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
spellingShingle | Original Research Articles Bialik, Or M. Zammit, Raymond Micallef, Aaron Architecture and sequence stratigraphy of the Upper Coralline Limestone formation, Malta—Implications for Eastern Mediterranean restriction prior to the Messinian Salinity Crisis |
title | Architecture and sequence stratigraphy of the Upper Coralline Limestone formation, Malta—Implications for Eastern Mediterranean restriction prior to the Messinian Salinity Crisis |
title_full | Architecture and sequence stratigraphy of the Upper Coralline Limestone formation, Malta—Implications for Eastern Mediterranean restriction prior to the Messinian Salinity Crisis |
title_fullStr | Architecture and sequence stratigraphy of the Upper Coralline Limestone formation, Malta—Implications for Eastern Mediterranean restriction prior to the Messinian Salinity Crisis |
title_full_unstemmed | Architecture and sequence stratigraphy of the Upper Coralline Limestone formation, Malta—Implications for Eastern Mediterranean restriction prior to the Messinian Salinity Crisis |
title_short | Architecture and sequence stratigraphy of the Upper Coralline Limestone formation, Malta—Implications for Eastern Mediterranean restriction prior to the Messinian Salinity Crisis |
title_sort | architecture and sequence stratigraphy of the upper coralline limestone formation, malta—implications for eastern mediterranean restriction prior to the messinian salinity crisis |
topic | Original Research Articles |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8359163/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34413980 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/dep2.138 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT bialikorm architectureandsequencestratigraphyoftheuppercorallinelimestoneformationmaltaimplicationsforeasternmediterraneanrestrictionpriortothemessiniansalinitycrisis AT zammitraymond architectureandsequencestratigraphyoftheuppercorallinelimestoneformationmaltaimplicationsforeasternmediterraneanrestrictionpriortothemessiniansalinitycrisis AT micallefaaron architectureandsequencestratigraphyoftheuppercorallinelimestoneformationmaltaimplicationsforeasternmediterraneanrestrictionpriortothemessiniansalinitycrisis |