The stratigraphic record of the Messinian salinity crisis in the northern margin of the Bajo Segura Basin (SE Spain)

In relation to the Messinian salinity crisis, we propose that Unit MII is correlative to the evaporites deposited in the centre of the Bajo Segura Basin (San Miguel Gypsum Formation), corresponding to the marginal evaporites of the Mediterranean. Evaporitic sedimentation in the Mediterranean abyssal plain, which is represented in the margins by erosional surfaces, may correspond to either of the two unconformities (intra-Messinian and end-Messinian) recognized in the Bajo Segura Basin.