Messinian events: new constraints from sedimentological investigations and new 40Ar/39Ar ages in the Melilla–Nador Basin (Morocco)

Abstract

Abstract New 40Ar/39Ar ages obtained both from within a platform and from the adjacent basin allow, through the extension of a previous argon dataset, the establishment of a chronological framework for the Messinian carbonate complex of Melilla (Morocco). In the platform, prograding bioclastic deposits began around 6.87±0.02 Ma, whereas the youngest preserved deposits are 5.77±0.04 Ma old. The southern part of the basin was uplifted and emergent prior to 6.23±0.03 Ma. The Tortonian/Messinian and the Messinian/Pliocene boundaries have not yet been identified in the Melilla region. Durations of the prograding bioclastic deposits (ca. 410 ka), the prograding Porites reefs (ca. 360 ka) and the preserved part of the terminal carbonate complex (TCC) (ca. 330 ka) can be estimated. Sedimentological and geochronological investigations do not indicate any major subaerial unconformity nor any major time gap. If a major sea level fall did exist during Messinian times, it developed after 5.77±0.04 Ma. Chronological correlations show that the onset of the Sorbas gypsum deposition (Southern Spain), considered as the marker of the Messinian Salinity Crisis onset, is contemporaneous with aggrading Porites reef building of the terminal carbonate complex of Melilla. A major paleoceanographic change in the marginal areas of the Mediterranean, with the cessation of upwelling systems, could be partly coeval with the onset of the Messinian Salinity Crisis.