Exhumation of Messinian evaporites in the deep-sea and creation of deep anoxic brine-filled collapsed basins

Chemistry of the brines is strongly variable and suggests dissolution of different layers or levels of the Messinian suite. Discovery brines are the saltiest ever recorded in natural environment. Their saturation in Mg chloride (bischofite), the end product of sea-water evaporation, suggests that the deepest parts of the eastern Mediterranean were close to dryness at the end of the salinity crisis, strongly supporting the deep basin desiccation model.