Evolution of the Late Miocene Mediterranean-Atlantic gateways and their impact on regional and global environmental change

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• 作者：Rachel Flecker^a ; ; Wout Krijgsman^b ; Walter Capella^b ; Cesar de Castro Martí ; ns^c ; ⁿ ; Evelina Dmitrieva^d ; Jan Peter Mayser^c ; Alice Marzocchi^a ; Sevasti Modestou^e ; Diana Ochoa^f ; Dirk Simon^b ; Maria Tulbure^b ; Bas van den Berg^f ; Marlies van der Schee^f ; Gert de Lange^b ; Robert Ellam^e ; Rob Govers^b ; Marcus Gutjahr^j ; Frits Hilgen^b ; Tanja Kouwenhoven^b ; Johanna Lofi^l ; ^m ; Paul Meijer^b ; Francisco J. Sierro^f ; Naima Bachiri^g ; Nadia Barhoun^g ; Abdelwahid Chakor Alami^h ; Beatriz Chacon^d ; Jose A. Flores^f ; John Gregoryⁱ ; James Howard^k ; Dan Lunt^a ; Maria Ochoa^d ; Rich Pancost^c ; Stephen Vincent^k ; Mohamed Zakaria Yousfi^g
• 关键词：Marine gateways ; Mediterranean ; Atlantic ; Climate ; Messinian Salinity Crisis
• 刊名：Earth Science Reviews
• 出版年：2015
• 出版时间：November 2015
• 年：2015
• 卷：150
• 期：Complete
• 页码：365-392
• 全文大小：3635 K

文摘

Marine gateways play a critical role in the exchange of water, heat, salt and nutrients between oceans and seas. As a result, changes in gateway geometry can significantly alter both the pattern of global ocean circulation and associated heat transport and climate, as well as having a profound impact on local environmental conditions. Mediterranean–Atlantic marine corridors that pre-date the modern Gibraltar Strait, closed during the Late Miocene and are now exposed on land in northern Morocco and southern Spain. The restriction and closure of these Miocene connections resulted in extreme salinity fluctuations in the Mediterranean, leading to the precipitation of thick evaporites. This event is known as the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC). The evolution and closure of the Mediterranean–Atlantic gateways are a critical control on the MSC, but at present the location, geometry and age of these gateways are still highly controversial, as is the impact of changing Mediterranean outflow on Northern Hemisphere circulation. Here, we present a comprehensive overview of the evolution of the Late Miocene gateways and the nature of Mediterranean–Atlantic exchange as deduced from published studies focussed both on the sediments preserved within the fossil corridors and inferences that can be derived from data in the adjacent basins. We also consider the possible impact of evolving exchange on both the Mediterranean and global climate and highlight the main enduring challenges for reconstructing past Mediterranean–Atlantic exchange.