| Five successive, distinct, microfossil assemblages, primarily characterized by their benthic foraminiferal contents, have been recognized in the Mio-Pliocene of the Carboneras-Nijar Basin (SE Spain). The assemblages record a number of fundamental changes in the environment of the area, which have been dated by means of planktic foraminifer biostratigraphy. In the earliest Messinian the central part of the basin was several hundreds of metres deep and had relatively open marine conditions, which were followed by oxygendeficiency, accompanied by slightly deviating salinities and some reduction in waterdepth. Subsequent deposition of Messinian evaporites was interrupted by sparse more open marine sedimentation. During the late Messinian brackish conditions... |
