Abstract
An analysis of multichannel seismic reflection data was conducted focusing on the comparison between the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC) and Plio-Quaternary (PQ) evolution of the eastern Sardo-Provençal and northern Algero-Balearic basins and related margins in the West Mediterranean Sea. Both basins were completely opened during the MSC and their well-defined seismic stratigraphy is very similar in the deep parts. The primary difference between these two basins is due to their different pre-MSC extensional history, including the opening age and the stretching factors. These factors influenced the occurrence of post-MSC salt tectonics on these margins.
Highlights
The understanding of the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC) as a Mediterranean basin-wide event requires an improved knowledge of the stratigraphy in the deep basins and continental margins (e.g. Roveri et al 2014)
Our aims are two-fold: (a) to test the possibility to improve the imaging of the sedimentary sequence and of the seismic markers of the MSC affected by post-depositional deformation through accurate targeted seismic velocity analysis for pre-stack depth migration (PSDM); (b) to compare the structural and stratigraphic records of the two diachronous back-arc basins using the MSC sequence as a reference chronostratigraphic marker
PSDM with Mobile Unit (MU) interval velocity of 5100 m s–1 yields a complete flattening of the base of salt, compensating for the velocity pull-up effect of the section processed in time domain
Summary
The understanding of the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC) as a Mediterranean basin-wide event requires an improved knowledge of the stratigraphy in the deep basins and continental margins (e.g. Roveri et al 2014). The first phase of the opening of the Western Mediterranean basins spans from the Early Oligocene (32 Ma, Carminati et al 2012; 30 Ma, Cherchi & Montadert 1982; Rehault et al 1984) to the Early Miocene (23 Ma, Cherchi & Montadert 1982; Ma, Rehault et al 1984; Ma, Carminati et al 2012), when continental backarc rifting occurred with NE–SW strike in response to the northwestward subduction of the Tethys oceanic lithosphere below the European continental plate
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