The beginning, development and termination of the Middle Miocene Badenian salinity crisis in Central Paratethys

Isotopic studies of Badenian foraminifers occurring below evaporites suggest that the interrupted communication of the Paratethys with the ocean was a consequence of eustatic sea-level fall, possibly related to climatic cooling, and it was coupled with a tectonic closure of connection with the Tethys. Thus both tectonics and eustacy have contributed to the origin of salinity crisis. Sedimentological and geochemical data indicate recycling of evaporites throughout most of the evaporite deposition. The recycling at the end of gypsum deposition in the marginal sulfate platform was accompanied by a change in the hydrology of the Central Paratethys that was tectonically-driven, and possibly related to the block tectonic phase manifested in the marginal part of the Carpathian Foredeep Basin. The change in hydrology implied the dilution of brines by inflowing marine water and this terminated the Middle Miocene Badenian salinity crisis. The onset of the Badenian salinity crisis shows great similarities to the onset of the Messinian salinity crisis and the terminations of both crises were different.