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

This is a Preprint and has not been peer reviewed. The published version of this Preprint is available: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2021.110819. This is version 2 of this Preprint.

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Authors

Or M. Bialik , Jesús Reolid , Denise Kulhanek , Carola Hincke, Nicolas Waldmann , Christian Betzler 

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 southeastern 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.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.31223/X5091W

Subjects

Sedimentology, Stratigraphy

Keywords

Pakhna formation, Drift deposits, Pelagite, Sapropels, Phosphogenesis, Drift deposits, Pelagite, Sapropels, Phosphogenesis

Dates

Published: 2021-10-12 14:53

Last Updated: 2022-03-02 10:10

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License

CC BY Attribution 4.0 International

Additional Metadata

Conflict of interest statement:
No conflicts of interest

Data Availability (Reason not available):
10.6084/m9.figshare.16419771