The western edge of the Mediterranean Pelagian Platform: A Messinian mixed siliciclastic–carbonate ramp in northern Tunisia

Autor: Jean-Pierre André, Beya Mannai-Tayech, Efterpi Koskeridou, Jean-Jacques Cornée, Pierre Moissette, Henriette Meon, Mohsen Rabhi
Přispěvatelé: PaleoEnvironnements et PaleobioSphere (PEPS), Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL), Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Géosciences Montpellier, Université des Antilles et de la Guyane (UAG)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Département de Géologie, Université de Tunis El Manar (UTM), Géologie des Systèmes Carbonatés (FRE 2761 ), Université de Provence - Aix-Marseille 1-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Department of Historical Geology-Palaeontology [Kapodistrian Univ], National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL), Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL), Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon, Université Tunis El Manar (UTM), Department of Historical Geology and Paleontology [Athens], University of Athens [Greece] (UOA)
Rok vydání: 2010
Předmět:
Zdroj: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 2010, 285 (1-2), pp.85-103. ⟨10.1016/j.palaeo.2009.10.028⟩
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, Elsevier, 2010, 285 (1-2), pp.85-103. ⟨10.1016/j.palaeo.2009.10.028⟩
ISSN: 0031-0182
Popis: International audience; The marine Messinian deposits of Tunisia cover a narrow littoral strip some 300 km long between the northern Bizerte and Cap Bon areas and the central-eastern Sahel region. Litho- and biofacies analysis of six stratigraphic sections reveals the distinctive features of these deposits.;The lower Messinian deposits are characterized by ubiquitous siliciclastics and abundant oolitic/bioclastic limestones organized in an eastward facing ramp. Westward (landward), this ramp changes into coastal lagoons, sometimes containing evaporites. Eastward, the ramp passes to the reefal Pelagian Platform extending as far as Lampedusa.;Two main sedimentary cycles are distinguished: 1) an early Messinian siliciclastic retrogradational then oolitic/bioclastic progradational cycle (Beni Khiar Formation and lower Oued bel Khedim Formation): 2) a late Messinian brackish to continental cycle that probably accumulated in rapidly subsiding lagoons (Cued el Bir Formation and upper Oued bel Khedim Formation). The Tunisian early Messinian cycle is partly eustatically controlled, but the late Messinian cycle cannot be confidently correlated to other well-known Messinian series because of tectonic movements.;The lower Messinian deposits of Tunisia are also characterized by abundant suspension-feeding organisms (molluscs and bryozoans) and rare corals, calcareous algae, echinoids, and larger benthic foraminifers. The proposed palaeoenvironmental model shows that the lower Messinian ramp of Tunisia was located on a current-protected margin and subjected to continent-derived sediment and nutrient supply. Eastward, nutrient influx diminished and a shallow-water isolated carbonate platform with coralgal facies developed between the western and the eastern Mediterranean basins. The main hydrological connection between these two basins occurred through a narrow seaway situated to the northeast of the Pelagian Platform, south of Sicily and Malta.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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