Geochemical indicators in Western Mediterranean Messinian evaporites: Implications for the salinity crisis

The Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC) led to deposition of one of the youngest saline giant on Earth. The increasing restriction of the connections between the Mediterranean, the Atlantic Ocean and the freshwater Paratethyan basins resulted in the deposition of massive amounts of evaporites (gypsum, anhydrite, halite and potash salts) in shallow marginal basins as well as in deep Mediterranean basins.