Tracking lithospheric delamination and surface processes across the Messinian salinity crisis
Lithospheric delamination involves short-lived crustal and surface responses, alkaline magmatism, high heat flow and extension. In the Western Mediterranean, delamination is hypothesized to have triggered uplift at the origin of the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC). But delamination as the primary cause of uplift is questioned due to the insufficient temporal resolution. We report new U-Pb ages and clumped isotope analyses from calcite veins formed in an eastern Betic intramontane basin. They reveal a brief fluid event from 8.5 to 5 Ma linked to extension and retreating delamination. After extension, shortening and uplift began at 4.5-3 Ma across the boundary between the Cabo de Gata arc basement and the Iberia margin. We show that the MSC occurred before shortening and during delamination. Slab detachment caused the demise of the MSC, the formation of a new plate boundary fault and tectonic escape between Africa and Iberia around 5 Ma.
Authors
- Stéphanie Brichau (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8073-7103)
- Frédéric Mouthereau B (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7073-4905)
- Nick M.W. Roberts (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8272-5432)
- Mathieu Daëron (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1210-9786)
- Louise Boschetti (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-0738-3306)
- Nicolas Beaudoin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7027-8599)
- Damien Huyghe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0244-4345)
- Marine Larrey (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3432-6987)
Institutions
- Total (France) (FR)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (FR)
- British Geological Survey (GB)
- Université de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour (FR)
- Université Fédérale de Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées (FR)
- ParisTech (FR)
- Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (FR)
- Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives (FR)
- Université Paris-Saclay (FR)
- Institut des Sciences de la Terre (FR)
- Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement (FR)
- Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (FR)
- CEA Paris-Saclay (FR)
- Centre de Géosciences (FR)
- Université Gustave Eiffel (FR)
- Géosciences Environnement Toulouse (FR)
- Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (FR)
- Université Grenoble Alpes (FR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2025-05-08
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59481-z
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Geological and Geophysical Studies Worldwide
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 3.73
Funders
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
- Total