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Messinian climate change and erosional destruction of the central European Alps

¹ Department of Earth and Space Sciences, Box 351310, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA
² Institute of Geological Sciences, University of Bern, Baltzerstrasse 1, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland
³ Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra and Centro Interdipartimentale di Ricerca per le Scienze Ambientali (CIRSA), Università di Bologna, Via Zamboni, 67, I-40127 Bologna, Italy

At the end of the Miocene, the European Alps ceased outward expansion, and tectonic uplift and exhumation shifted into the orogen interior. This shift is consistent with a change from orogenic construction to orogenic destruction, reflecting an increase in the ratio of erosional flux to accretionary flux. The coincidence of this change with an increase in sediment yield from the Alps suggests a climate-driven increase in erosional flux. The timing of deformation and sediment release from the southern Alps indicates that the tectonic change occurred synchronous with the last phase of the Messinian salinity crisis. We attribute the increase in erosional flux to a climatic shift to wetter conditions throughout Europe, likely augmented by the base-level fall that occurred during the Mediterranean dessication. This climate change is represented in the stratigraphic record by the Lago Mare deposits of the Mediterranean salinity crisis.

Key Words: Mediterranean salinity crisis • European Alps • Miocene • climate • erosional flux • accretionary flux

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