Onshore to offshore reconstruction of the Messinian erosion surface in Western Sardinia, Italy: Implications for the Messinian salinity crisis

New outcrops in the Sinis peninsula (Sardinia, Italy) allow a detailed description of the Messinian erosion surface. The correlation between outcrops, industrial seismic data and data collected offshore Oristano from a recent cruise permits reconstruction of the geometry of this surface from present...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sedimentary geology 2008-10, Vol.210 (1), p.48-60
Main Authors: Cornée, Jean-Jacques, Maillard, Agnès, Conesa, Gilles, Garcia, Frédéric, Saint Martin, Jean-Paul, Sage, Françoise, Münch, P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Continental interfaces, environment
Environmental Sciences
Erosion surface
Global Changes
Karst
Marine
Mediterranean
Messinian
Sardinia
Sciences of the Universe
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Summary:New outcrops in the Sinis peninsula (Sardinia, Italy) allow a detailed description of the Messinian erosion surface. The correlation between outcrops, industrial seismic data and data collected offshore Oristano from a recent cruise permits reconstruction of the geometry of this surface from presently emerged interfluves to the deep canyons offshore, with: - onshore: an eroded karstic plateau presently cropping out over a 20 km × 5 km area. Well-preserved karst structures occur locally and can form several metres high reliefs. The southernmost edge of the plateau is limited by a cliff. The karstic plateau and the cliff are sealed by transgressive deposits of Pliocene age; - offshore, an interfluve zone with a mostly flat and low-angle dipping plateau, westward dissected by paleovalleys which were identified down to a depth of 2000 m. In the Oristano Gulf, Messinian paleovalleys were also identified. The Capo San Marco paleocliff was probably located on the edge of a canyon. Onshore, only one major erosion surface was identified, located at the top the Messinian sequence. Offshore, this surface extends down to the abyssal plain. The surface was emplaced above deposits related to the Terminal Carbonate Complex. This indicates that the marginal evaporites are older than the major drawdown of the Mediterranean sea-level. The major drawdown is related to the deposition of the deep evaporites.
ISSN:0037-0738
1879-0968
DOI:10.1016/j.sedgeo.2008.06.005