Messinian
The Messinian is in the geologic timescale the last age or uppermost stage of the Miocene. It spans the time between 7.246 ± 0.005 Ma and 5.333 ± 0.005 Ma (million years ago). It follows the Tortonian and is followed by the Zanclean, the first age of the Pliocene. The Messinian overlaps the Turolian European Land Mammal Mega Zone (more precisely MN 12 and 13) and the Pontian Central European Paratethys Stage. It also overlaps the late Huayquerian and early Montehermosan South American Land Mammal Ages, and falls inside the more extensive Hemphillian North American Land Mammal Age. During the Messinian, around 6 million years ago, the Messinian salinity crisis took place, which brought about repeated desiccations of the Mediterranean Sea.
| Messinian | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chronology | |||||||||||
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| Formerly part of | Tertiary Period/System | ||||||||||
| Etymology | |||||||||||
| Name formality | Formal | ||||||||||
| Usage information | |||||||||||
| Celestial body | Earth | ||||||||||
| Regional usage | Global (ICS) | ||||||||||
| Time scale(s) used | ICS Time Scale | ||||||||||
| Definition | |||||||||||
| Chronological unit | Age | ||||||||||
| Stratigraphic unit | Stage | ||||||||||
| Time span formality | Formal | ||||||||||
| Lower boundary definition |
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| Lower boundary GSSP | Oued Akrech section, Rabat, Morocco 33°56′13″N 6°48′45″W / 33.9369°N 6.8125°W | ||||||||||
| Lower GSSP ratified | January 2000[4] | ||||||||||
| Upper boundary definition | Base of the Thvera magnetic event (C3n.4n), which is only 96 ka (5 precession cycles) younger than the GSSP | ||||||||||
| Upper boundary GSSP | Heraclea Minoa section, Heraclea Minoa, Cattolica Eraclea, Sicily, Italy 37°23′30″N 13°16′50″E / 37.3917°N 13.2806°E | ||||||||||
| Upper GSSP ratified | 2000[5] | ||||||||||
The Messinian is in the geologic timescale the last age or uppermost stage of the Miocene. It spans the time between 7.246 ± 0.005 Ma and 5.333 ± 0.005 Ma (million years ago). It follows the Tortonian and is followed by the Zanclean, the first age of the Pliocene.
The Messinian overlaps the Turolian European Land Mammal Mega Zone (more precisely MN 12 and 13) and the Pontian Central European Paratethys Stage. It also overlaps the late Huayquerian and early Montehermosan South American Land Mammal Ages, and falls inside the more extensive Hemphillian North American Land Mammal Age.
During the Messinian, around 6 million years ago, the Messinian salinity crisis took place, which brought about repeated desiccations of the Mediterranean Sea.
Definition
[edit]
The Messinian was introduced by Swiss stratigrapher Karl Mayer-Eymar in 1867.[6] Its name comes from the Italian city of Messina on Sicily, where the Messinian evaporite deposit is of the same age.
The base of the Messinian is at the first appearance of the planktonic foram species Globorotalia conomiozea and is stratigraphically in the middle of magnetic chronozone C3Br.1r. The Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point for the Messinian is located in a section at Oued Akrech, near the Moroccan capital Rabat.[7]
The top of the Messinian (the base of the Zanclean Stage and Pliocene Series) lies with the top of magnetic chronozone Cr3 (about 100,000 years before the Thvera normal subchronozone C3n.4n). The top is also close to the extinction level of the calcareous nanoplankton species Triquetrorhabdulus rugosus (the base of biozone CN10b) and the first appearance of nanoplankton Ceratolithus acutus.[citation needed]
Palaeoclimatology
[edit]In South Asia, the first part of the Messinian up to about 6.0 Ma is associated with major drying that transformed the region from being mainly dominated by C3 forest and woodland to a C4 savanna.[8]
The Messinian in Namibia is associated with a climatic transition from the relatively wet Tortonian climate to the arid one of the Zanclean.[9]
References
[edit]- ^ Krijgsman, Wout; Garcés, Miguel; Langereis, Cor G.; Daams, R.; Van Dam, J.; Van Der Meulen, A. J.; Agustí, Jordi; Cabrera, Lluis (August 1996). "A new chronology for the middle to late Miocene continental record in Spain". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 142 (3–4): 367–380. Bibcode:1996E&PSL.142..367K. doi:10.1016/0012-821X(96)00109-4. Retrieved October 2, 2025.
- ^ Gregory J., Retallack (1997). "Neogene Expansion of the North American Prairie". PALAIOS. 12 (4): 380–390. doi:10.2307/3515337. eISSN 1938-5323. ISSN 0883-1351. JSTOR 3515337. Retrieved October 2, 2025.
- ^ "International Chronostratigraphic Chart" (PDF). International Commission on Stratigraphy. December 2024. Retrieved October 23, 2025.
- ^ Hilgen, F. J.; S. Iaccarino; W. Krijgsman; G. Villa; C. G. Langereis; W. J. Zachariasse (2000). "The Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) of the Messinian Stage (uppermost Miocene)" (PDF). Episodes. 23 (3): 172–178. doi:10.18814/epiiugs/2000/v23i3/004.
- ^ Van Couvering, John; Castradori, Davide; Cita, Maria; Hilgen, Frederik; Rio, Domenico (September 2000). "The base of the Zanclean Stage and of the Pliocene Series" (PDF). Episodes. 23 (3): 179–187. doi:10.18814/epiiugs/2000/v23i3/005. S2CID 10836910.
- ^ Mayer-Eymar, Karl (1867) Catalogue systématique et descriptif des fossiles des terrains tertiaires qui se trouvent du Musée fédéral de Zürich (Zürich, Switzerland: Librairie Schabelitz, 1867), page 13. From page 13: "Dans ces circonstances, je crois qu'il m'est permis comme créateur d'une classification conséquente et logique de proposer pour l'étage en question un nom qui lui convient en tous points. Ce nom est celui d'Etage messinien." ("In these circumstances, I think that I am permitted as the creator of a consistent and logical classification to propose for the stage in question a name that suits it in every way. That name is that of the Messinian stage.")
- ^ This GSSP was established by Hilgen et al. (2000)
- ^ Badgley, Catherine; Barry, John C.; Morgan, Michèle E.; Nelson, Sherry V.; Behrensmeyer, Anna K.; Cerling, Thure E.; Pilbeam, David (26 August 2008). "Ecological changes in Miocene mammalian record show impact of prolonged climatic forcing". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 105 (34): 12145–12149. doi:10.1073/pnas.0805592105. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 2527879. PMID 18711123. Retrieved 16 March 2026 – via Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
- ^ Hoetzel, S.; Dupont, L. M.; Wefer, G. (1 April 2015). "Miocene–Pliocene vegetation change in south-western Africa (ODP Site 1081, offshore Namibia)". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 423: 102–108. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2015.02.002. Retrieved 28 February 2026 – via Elsevier Science Direct.
Sources
[edit]- Gradstein, F.M.; J.G. Ogg; A.G. Smith (2004). A Geologic Time Scale 2004. Cambridge University Press.
- Hilgen, F.J.; S. Iaccarino; W. Krijgsman; G. Villa; C.G. Langereis; W.J. Zachariasse (2000). The Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) of the Messinian Stage (uppermost Miocene). pp. 172–178.
- Hsü, K.J. (1983). The Mediterranean Was a Desert. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
- Mayer-Eymar, Karl (1867). Catalogue systématique et descriptif des fossiles des terrains tertiaires qui se trouvent du Musée fédéral de Zürich (in French). Zürich.
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External links
[edit]
- GeoWhen Database - Messinian
- Messinian online - living in an evaporitic world - Mediterranean area
- Neogene timescale, at the website of the subcommission for stratigraphic information of the ICS
- Neogene timescale at the website of the Norwegian network of offshore records of geology and stratigraphy
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