The Messinian succession of the Crotone Basin (southern Italy) I: Stratigraphic architecture reconstructed by seismic and well data

The Messinian succession of the Crotone Basin, a forearc basin located along the Ionian side of theCalabrian Arc (southern Italy), is composed of resedimented gypsum, halite and siliciclastic subaqueousto continental deposits that are overlain by Lower Pliocene deep-marine marls. Integrated seismic andwell data analysis have allowed the recognition of seven major stratal surfaces (S1eS7) of sequencestratigraphic significance and stratal units typified by diagnostic architectures, which allow to definethree depositional sequences accumulated since the onset of the Messinian Salinity Crisis. This highlightsan unusually complex stratigraphy that is interpreted as the result of the interplay between tectonicsinvolving the basin and the Mediterranean-scale Messinian events. In particular, the surfaces S1 and S3,bounding the base and the top of the resedimented gypsum, and the uppermost surface (S7), boundingthe base of the Pliocene succession, probably developed due to Mediterranean-scale events, specificallythe onset and the end of the main base-level fall (S1 and S3, respectively) and the Early Zancleanreflooding (S7). The other surfaces are inferred to be related to basin-scale tectonics, although a relationshipbetween local tectonics and pan-Mediterranean tectonic events linked to the Salinity Crisiscannot be ruled out. This, together with the evidence provided by other Messinian successions, raises thepossibility that the base-level changes recorded in the Messinian deposits of the Mediterranean are morecomplex than previously thought, a possibility that deserves further investigations.