The Messinian is in the

geologic timescale The geologic time scale, or geological time scale, (GTS) is a representation of time based on the rock record of Earth. It is a system of chronological dating that uses chronostratigraphy (the process of relating strata to time) and geochr ...

the last age or uppermost stage of the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...

. 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 Zanclean is the lowest stage or earliest age on the geologic time scale of the Pliocene. It spans the time between 5.332 ± 0.005 Ma (million years ago) and 3.6 ± 0.005 Ma. It is preceded by the Messinian Age of the Miocene Epoch, a ...

, the first age of the

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58Turolian The Turolian age is a period of geologic time The geologic time scale, or geological time scale, (GTS) is a representation of time based on the rock record of Earth. It is a system of chronological dating that uses chronostratigraphy (the pr ...

European Land Mammal Mega Zone (more precisely MN 12 and 13) and the Pontian Central European

Paratethys The Paratethys sea, Paratethys ocean, Paratethys realm or just Paratethys was a large shallow inland sea that stretched from the region north of the Alps over Central Europe to the Aral Sea in Central Asia. Paratethys was peculiar due to its p ...

Stage. It also overlaps the late

Huayquerian The Huayquerian ( es, Huayqueriense) age is a period of geologic time (9.0–6.8 Ma) within the Late Miocene epoch of the Neogene, used more specifically within the SALMA classification. It follows the Mayoan The Mayoan ( es, Mayoense) age is a ...

and early Montehermosan South American Land Mammal Ages, and falls inside the more extensive Hemphillian

North American Land Mammal Age The North American land mammal ages (NALMA) establishes a geologic timescale for North American fauna beginning during the Late Cretaceous and continuing through to the present. These periods are referred to as ages or intervals (or stages when ...

. During the Messinian, around 6 million years ago, the Messinian salinity crisis took place, which brought about repeated desiccations of the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...

Definition

The Messinian was introduced by

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland *Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri *Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia *Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports * Swiss Internation ...

stratigrapher Karl Mayer-Eymar in 1867. Its name comes from the Italian city of

Messina Messina (, also , ) is a harbour city and the capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of more than 219,000 inhabitants in t ...

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, where the Messinian evaporite deposit is of the same age. The base of the Messinian is at the first appearance of the

plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in water (or air) that are unable to propel themselves against a current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankters. In the ocean, they provide a cruc ...

ic foram species ''Globorotalia conomiozea'' and is stratigraphically in the middle of magnetic chronozone C3Br.1r. The

Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point A Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) is an internationally agreed upon reference point on a stratigraphic section which defines the lower boundary of a stage on the geologic time scale. The effort to define GSSPs is conducted ...

for the Messinian is located in a section at Oued Akrech, near the Moroccan capital

Rabat Rabat (, also , ; ar, الرِّبَاط, er-Ribât; ber, ⵕⵕⴱⴰⵟ, ṛṛbaṭ) is the capital city of Morocco and the country's seventh largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan populatio ...

.This GSSP was established by Hilgen ''et al.'' (2000) 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 Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the Endling, last individual of the species, although the Functional ext ...

level of the calcareous nanoplankton species ''Triquetrorhabdulus rugosus'' (the base of biozone CN10b) and the first appearance of nanoplankton '' Ceratolithus acutus''.

References

Sources

* * * *

External links

GeoWhen Database - MessinianMessinian online - living in an evaporitic world - Mediterranean areaNeogene 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
{{coord, 33.9369, N, 6.8125, W, source:wikidata, display=title *06 Miocene geochronology Geological ages