Chronology, causes and progression of the Messinian salinity crisis
Article Abstract:
The Messinian salinity crisis (MSC) is widely seen as one of the most dramatic episodes of oceanic change and most agree that it was due to a complex combination of tectonic and glacio-eustatic processes. There are still controversies about the timing and direction of the MSC however. An astronomically calibrated chronology for the Mediterranean Messinian age is presented, based on integrated high-resolution stratigraphy and tuning of sedimentary cycle patterns to changes in the orbital parameters of the Earth. A dominantly tectonic origin for the MSC is favoured, although the exact timing could have been controlled by the Earth's eccentricity cycle.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1999
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Flattening of the sea-floor depth-age curve as a response to asthenospheric flow
Article Abstract:
Dynamic asthenospheric flow beneath the oceanic lithosphere best accounts for the observed flattening of the old ocean floor as determined by depth-age data. This asthenospheric model elucidates the processes of plate accretion, subduction of lithosphere at trenches, near-ridge upwelling and near-ridge hot spots and how these phenomena result in the invariable flattening of the sea-floor depth-age curve. The model also accounts for the asymmetric movement of the South American and African plates away from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1992
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Deep roots of the Messinian salinity crisis
Article Abstract:
A study was conducted, by using the age and composition of volcanic rocks, to retrieve the geodynamic evolution of the westernmost Mediterranean from the Middle Miocene epoch to the Pleistocene epoch. The result shows a marked shift in the geochemistry of mantle-derived volcanic rocks, largely synchronous with the Messinian salinity crisis.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 2003
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