TY - JOUR
T1 - Latest Miocene restriction of the Mediterranean Outflow Water: a perspective from the Gulf of Cádiz
AU - Ng, Zhi Lin
AU - Hernandez-Molina, Francisco Javier
AU - Duarte, Débora
AU - Sierro, Francisco J.
AU - Ledesma, Santiago
AU - Rogerson, Michael
AU - Llave, Estefanía
AU - Roque, Cristina
AU - Manar, M. Amine
N1 - Funding information: The authors would like to thank the editor and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments. This work is conducted in the framework of “The Drifters” Research Group, Royal Holloway University of London, and supported by Royal Holloway college studentship, SCORE (CGL2016-80445-R) and INPULSE (CTM2016-75129-C3-1-R) projects. The authors would also like to extend their grateful thanks to Mr. Mohamed Nahim as Director of Petroleum Exploration (ONHYM) for his support and to ONHYM, Repsol S.A. and TGS-Nopec for permission to use the seismic and borehole data in this work. Datasets for this research are partly included in the literature (Hernández-Molina et al. , ; Ledesma ; van der Schee et al. ), partly available from ONHYM, Repsol S.A. and TGS-Nopec with confidentiality regulations and are not publicly accessible, but are available from the authors upon reasonable request and with permissions of ONHYM, Repsol S.A. and TGS-Nopec.
PY - 2021/6/1
Y1 - 2021/6/1
N2 - The Mediterranean-Atlantic water mass exchange provides the ideal setting for deciphering the role of gateway evolution in ocean circulation. However, the dynamics of Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW) during the closure of the Late Miocene Mediterranean-Atlantic gateways are poorly understood. Here, we define the sedimentary evolution of Neogene basins from the Gulf of Cádiz to the West Iberian margin to investigate MOW circulation during the latest Miocene. Seismic interpretation highlights a middle to upper Messinian seismic unit of transparent facies, whose base predates the onset of the Messinian salinity crisis (MSC). Its facies and distribution imply a predominantly hemipelagic environment along the Atlantic margins, suggesting an absence or intermittence of MOW preceding evaporite precipitation in the Mediterranean, simultaneous to progressive gateway restriction. The removal of MOW from the Mediterranean-Atlantic water mass exchange reorganized the Atlantic water masses and is correlated to a severe weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) and a period of further cooling in the North Atlantic during the latest Miocene.
AB - The Mediterranean-Atlantic water mass exchange provides the ideal setting for deciphering the role of gateway evolution in ocean circulation. However, the dynamics of Mediterranean Outflow Water (MOW) during the closure of the Late Miocene Mediterranean-Atlantic gateways are poorly understood. Here, we define the sedimentary evolution of Neogene basins from the Gulf of Cádiz to the West Iberian margin to investigate MOW circulation during the latest Miocene. Seismic interpretation highlights a middle to upper Messinian seismic unit of transparent facies, whose base predates the onset of the Messinian salinity crisis (MSC). Its facies and distribution imply a predominantly hemipelagic environment along the Atlantic margins, suggesting an absence or intermittence of MOW preceding evaporite precipitation in the Mediterranean, simultaneous to progressive gateway restriction. The removal of MOW from the Mediterranean-Atlantic water mass exchange reorganized the Atlantic water masses and is correlated to a severe weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) and a period of further cooling in the North Atlantic during the latest Miocene.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85106294851&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s00367-021-00693-9
DO - 10.1007/s00367-021-00693-9
M3 - Article
SN - 0276-0460
VL - 41
SP - 1
EP - 17
JO - Geo-Marine Letters
JF - Geo-Marine Letters
IS - 2
M1 - 23
ER -