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 The Lower Evaporites of the Vena del Gesso (Northern Apennines, Italy) - photo by M. Roveri, 2003 for contact : info@messinianonline.it MSC mailing list |
A website dedicated to the exploration of the great environmental changes experienced by the whole Mediterranean area about 6 millions years ago What caused the dramatic, sudden and synchronous palaeogeographic changes recorded by sedimentary rocks that transformed the Mediterranean into the largest saline basin in the Earth's history? What the impact on Mediterranean marine and terrestrial ecosystems? What the consequences on the Atlantic Ocean circulation pattern? Could it happen again in the future? Since more than 30 years the international scientific community is trying to solve one of the most intriguing problems in the history of natural sciences |
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CIESM Workshop 331 21 February 2008, CIESM News
info: fabrizio.lirer@iamc.cnr.it
Alba (Piedmont, Italy), October 10th-11th 2008 Dawn and sunset of the Messinian Crisis The congress will last two days: Friday, October 10th, FENOGLIO Hall (100 places) - Session of scientific communications on palaeontological and stratigraphical aspects of the Messinian, participation reserved to subscribed members (organized by Francesco Dela Pierre, Francesca Lozar, Edoardo Martinetto, Donata Violanti of the University of Turin). Saturday, October 11th, FERRERO FOUNDATION Hall (320 places) - Day of invited communications addressed to the great public (open doors) and dedicated to the memory of Carlo Sturani and its researches on the Messinian. Organized by Oreste Cavallo of the Museum of Alba with the collaboration of Pierangelo Clari, Edoardo Martinetto and Donata Violanti of the University of Turin. In the afternoon an excursion will be carried out on the places where the Messinian events are document with greater geologic evidence. Discounted registration (60-70 €) or Pre-registration within 20th March 2008Registration with additional charge of 10 € within 30th june 2008 Abstract submission (English or Italian) within 10th september 2008, exclusively to francesca.lozar@unito.it official language: Italian PUBLICATIONS No proceedings will be printed. The Italian Palaeontological Society promoted a special issue on Messinian Palaeontology of its Bulletin, which is now in press and will be distributed to all the Italian Palaeontological Society members. A few copies will be available at the congress for non-members, at the indicative price of 20-35 €. Due to the limited number of extra-copies, booking within June 30th 2008 is strongly suggested (edoardo.martinetto@unito.it ). Further details will be published on the website www.dst.unito.it. For information: Edoardo Martinetto, edoardo.martinetto@unito.it May 5-6, 2008, at Lyon (France) Special Session of the Societe Geologique de France dedicated to Georges CLAUZON Between 7 and 4 Ma, Alpine deformations were particularly marked in the Mediterranean area and the geography of this region (including the residual Central and Eastern Paratethys) was affected by tremendous changes related to the Messinian Salinity Crisis. The crisis is now widely regarded as the product of tectonic disruptions, but there is no agreement yet on the modalities of the event. The exceptional eustatic changes experienced by the Mediterranean and the Black seas occurred in a very brief time-window (5.60-5.33 Ma) and were characterized by a ~1500 m sea-level drop that led to their almost complete desiccation, followed by a Zanclean flooding that raised the sea level by +70 m. These events necessarily had tectonic repercussions. An intra-Messinian tectonic episode is commonly referred but its chronologic and spatial variability are yet to be recognized. In particular, eustatic changes associated with the Messinian Salinity Crisis have probably driven the episodic relationships that occurred between the Paratethys and the Mediterranean, while localisation of the corridor(s) followed by the marine or brackish organisms was closely contingent upon the tectonic context. Although the Messinian Salinity Crisis has been the focus of numerous international meetings and scientific publications, the temporal, spatial and causal relationships between eustasy and tectonics, however, have yet to be comprehesively investigated. Such relationships can now be investigated because of the recent major advancements that have improved understanding of intrinsic chronology of the crisis and its paleogeographic context. These relationships will be analyzed in this Special Session of the Société Géologique de France, which is dedicated to Georges Clauzon (Fontannes Prize 2007 of the Society), whose seminal research has greatly improved our knowledge of the Messinian Salinity Crisis. The 2nd Colloquium on "The Messinian salinity crisis revisited" will be held at the Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra of the University of Parma (Italy) the 7th-9th September 2006. Detailed programme Abstract Volume
EGU 2006 Messinian Session "The Messinian desiccation of the Mediterranean Sea, its causes, phenomena and consequences"
New spaces for Messinian debate Why a Messinian website? I think the answer is easy. In the last decades, hundreds of Earth and Life scientists have been trying to shed light on the set of dramatic palaeogeographic changes that affected the Mediterranean area at the end of the Miocene. I believe that a website open to the free contribute of all Messinian scientist would represent a valuable chance to create a permanent, up to date and stimulating network of scientific knowledge, personal relationships and feedbacks, from which new collaborations, ideas and project proposals would hopefully arise. Of course this electronic space will survive and grow only through the active collaboration of the widest community. To make communications easier and faster, the website will be provided soon with dynamic and interactive pages. For this reason I invite Messinian people to send their comments about this initiative as well as any technical suggestions, information or document that would improve what I hope is going to become our website. Marco Roveri, University of Parma, Italy
MSC Gallery - The Miocene/Pliocene boundary in the Conero section (Marche, Central Italy). The more resistant calcarenitic body prolonging into the Adriatic Sea is the topmost Messinian deposit.
Photo by M. Roveri, 2004 |
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website produced and updated by the MIUR-Cofin 2003 ME.LA Project research group
May 5-6, 2008, at Lyon (France)
