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![]() Research of Ksenia Pavlova ![]() Paleoenvironmental and paleogeographic evolution of the Black Sea area during the Neogene: Implications for Mediterranean-Paratethys exchange |
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The
northward plate tectonic motion of the African/Arabian continent during
the Neogene (24-0 Myrs ago) has led to the closure of the Tethys Ocean.
The Alpine- Himalayan orogenic barrier separated this ocean into the Mediterranean
domain and the so-called “Paratethys” domain; a large endemic water mass
that extended from Austria to Iran, with the Black Sea and Caspian Sea
as actual remnants. Both domains have experienced dramatic paleoenvironmental
(and tectonics) changes during the Neogene, examplified by the desiccation
and reflooding of the Mediterranean during the Messinian Salinity Crisis
(6-5.3 Myrs ago) and the desiccation and reflooding of the Black Sea during
an event that might be related to the biblical flood of Noah (~8 kyrs ago).
The semi-enclosed land-locked configuration of the Mediterranean region has appeared to be extremely sensitive to record changes in paleoclimate and paleoenvironment and integrated stratigraphic studies have revealed that the sedimentary record accurately reflects astronomically induced changes in solar insolation. This has allowed the construction of very detailed astronomically tuned geological polarity time scales, which at present underlie most modern paleoclimatic, paleoceanographic and paleogeobiologic research efforts. Kirmaki section in Azerbaijan
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