Relationship between erosion surfaces and Late Miocene Salinity Crisis deposits in the Valencia Basin (northwestern Mediterranean): evidence for an early sea‐level fall

Abstract

AbstractAlthough the main events of the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC) are today mostly known, the exact succession of the different episodes remains unclear. This, in particular, is because (i) no drilling has reached the base of the Salt, and thus the onset of the MSC in the basins is unknown, and (ii) lateral correlations between the margins and the deep basins are missing. The Valencia Basin, which is intermediate in depth between the marginal basins and the deep basins, is an ideal location for studying the transitional domain. It displays the relationships between the polygenic erosion on the margins, the deposition of the thin Upper Evaporites bracketed by basal and top erosion surfaces in the central part of the basin, and the thick MSC sequence in the deep oceanic Provençal Basin. Early detrital deposits located below the MSC sequence of the deep basin suggest an early lowering of the sea level prior to the MSC desiccation.