Full restoration of marine conditions after the late Messinian Mediterranean Lago-Mare phase in Licodia Eubea and Villafranca Tirrena areas (east Sicily)

Abstract

After the Upper Messinian Mediterranean Lago-Mare phase, at the end of the Messinian salinity crisis, the Mediterranean basin was characterized by a return to normal marine conditions starting with the Lower Pliocene (Zanclean). In this period, remarkably thick layers of calcareous pelitic sediments, very rich in planktonic foraminifers and nannofossils, were widely deposited in the Mediterranean basin. The calcareous pelitic deposits of Sicily (Trubi Formation), as well as in other Mediterranean regions, were deposited conformably on the pre-Pliocene substrate, which is mainly represented by Messinian evaporites or by the post-evaporitic Lago-Mare facies. We have analysed samples taken from the lower portion of the Trubi Formation (Zanclean), just above the Messinian facies, collected from Licodia Eubea and Villafranca Tirrena areas (eastern Sicily). Micropalaentological assemblages consist of benthic and planktonic foraminifers and a typical deep-water ostracod fauna. The microfossil association and the stratigraphy of the Messinian-Pliocene transitional layers, supported by calcareous nannoplankton data, demonstrate not only rapid sea-level rise in this sector of the Mediterranean region, but also that this event, occurred without producing erosional features, unlike at other sites (e.g., Strait of Gibraltar).