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Precise 40Ar/39Ar dating of volcanic tuffs within the upper Messinian sequences in the Melilla carbonate complex (NE Morocco): implications for the Messinian Salinity Crisis

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Abstract

The Melilla carbonate complex (NE Morocco) is the only area of the Paleo-Mediterranean Sea where volcanic activity was present throughout most of the Messinian. 40Ar/39Ar dating of volcanic tuffs interbedded within the upper Messinian sedimentary deposits, known as the Terminal Carbonate Complex (TCC), yields accurate ages of paleoenvironmental and sea-level changes related to the Messinian Salinity Crisis. The new chronologic data (1) provide an average of 5.95–5.99 Ma for the base of the TCC, thus being synchronous with the onset of the Messinian Salinity Crisis, (2) demonstrate for the first time that the basal unconformity of the TCC does not represent a hiatus of long duration, (3) define a precise time line at 5.87±0.02 Ma (2σ) corresponding to sedimentary rocks exhibiting a lateral transition between continental and marine deposits typical of the TCC and (4) yield evidence that emersion of the Melilla platform during deposition of the TCC is partly related to tectono-magmatic activity. An erosional surface, capping the TCC deposits in the Melilla basin, is related to the major Messinian Mediterranean drawdown. The duration of the hiatus, associated with this surface, is estimated to be at most 450 kyr, but is probably shorter.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Dr. K.J. Cunningham and an anonymous reviewer for their revisions. We also thank the topic editor, Dr. K. Hammerschmidt, for his very constructive comments. This work is a contribution to the French INSU-CNRS programme ECLIPSE II “Vers une évaluation spatio-temporelle détaillée de l’impact de la Crise de Salinité Messinienne et de ses facteurs de contrôle”. The authors thank Dr J. Reijmer for his help to improve the English wording of the text. Thanks to L. Marillier for thin sections, and R. Notonier and A. Tonetto for ESEM technical assistance. Géosciences Azur contribution no. 704.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. UMR 6019-DRPC, Université de Provence, case 67, 3 pl., V. Hugo, 13331, Marseille Cedex 3, France

    Ph. Münch, J.-P. Saint Martin, F. Garcia, G. Conesa, S. Roger & M. Moullade

  2. UMR 5125-PEPS, Bât. Géode, 11-43 Bd du 11 novembre, Université Claude Bernard Lyon I, 69622, Villeurbanne Cedex, France

    J.-J. Cornée

  3. UMR 6526 Géosciences Azur, CNRS-UNSA, 06108, Nice Cedex 02, France

    G. Féraud

  4. Laboratory de Géologie, Université de Corse, BP 52, 20250, Corte, France

    M. Ferrandini

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  1. Ph. Münch
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Ph. Münch, Cornée, JJ., Féraud, G. et al. Precise 40Ar/39Ar dating of volcanic tuffs within the upper Messinian sequences in the Melilla carbonate complex (NE Morocco): implications for the Messinian Salinity Crisis. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 95, 491–503 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-005-0038-6

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