Sedimentary response to current and nutrient regime rearrangement in the Eastern Mediterranean during the early to middle Miocene (Southwestern Cyprus)

Abstract

During the early and middle Miocene, the Mediterranean had become a restricted marginal marine sea with diminishing and ultimate loss of connectivity to the Indian Ocean. This dramatically changed the heat, energy, freshwater and nutrient budgets across the Mediterranean and most notably in its eastern basin. While one of the most prominent lines of evidence of this change in the Eastern Mediterranean is the onset of sapropel formation, many other aspects of the sedimentary system changed in response to this rearrangement. Here we present a detailed analysis of a hemipelagic succession from southwestern Cyprus dated to the late Aquitanian to the early Serravallian (22.5–14.5 Ma). This sequence is carbonate-dominated and formed during the decoupling of the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean. It exhibits sedimentation with mass transport contribution from shallow water carbonates to deeper facies with phosphatization and bottom current (at intermediate depth) interactions. This succession traces both local subsidence and loss of a local carbonate factory. Additionally, it records a shift in bottom current energy and seafloor ventilation, which are an expected outcome of connectivity loss with the Indian Ocean. • A new continuous section from the late Oligocene to the middle Miocene was studied in southern Cyprus. • A multi-proxies approach trace paleoenvironmental changes in the east Mediterranean across its the Indian Ocean decupling. • These changes include changes in the carbonate factories, nutrient state and local subsidence. • Evolving nutrient load and sedimentary composition shades light on events leading to emplacement of precursor sapropels.