Messinian sea level fall in the Dacic Basin (Eastern Paratethys): palaeogeographical implications from seismic sequence stratigraphy

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1 doi: /j x Messinian sea level fall in the Dacic Basin (Eastern Paratethys): palaeogeographical implications from seismic sequence stratigraphy Karen A. Leever, 1,3 Liviu Matenco, 1,3 Traian Rabagia, 1,3 Sierd Cloetingh, 1,3 Wout Krijgsman 2,3 and Marius Stoica 2,3 1 Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, VU University Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands; 2 Department of Earth Sciences, Utrecht University, Budapestlaan 17, 3584 CD Utrecht, The Netherlands; 3 ISES (Netherlands Research Centre for Integrated Solid Earth Science) ABSTRACT The signature of the Mediterranean Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC) in the Paratethys has received wide attention because of the inferred changes in connectivity and base level. In this article, we present sequence stratigraphic interpretations on a seismic transect across the western part of the semi-isolated Late Miocene Pliocene Dacic Basin (Eastern Paratethys, Romania), chronologically constrained by biostratigraphic field observations and well data. They reveal significant sea level changes during the middle Pontian that are coeval with the MSC. These changes were most likely transmitted to the western Dacic Basin from the downstream Black Sea and controlled by the sill height of the interconnecting gateway. During the middle Pontian lowstand of the western Dacian Basin, sedimentation continued in a remnant 300 m deep lake with a positive water balance. Our observations show that the evolution of semi-isolated sedimentary basins is strongly dependent on the communication with other depositional realms through its control on base level and sediment supply. Terra Nova, 00, 1 6, 2009 Introduction Patterns of basin infill are a function of changes in accommodation space (rates of eustatic sea level change and subsidence) and sediment supply (e.g. Galloway, 1989; Schlager, 1993). Both are ultimately controlled by the interaction of tectonics and climate. A dramatic example of this interaction occurred in the Mediterranean Sea during the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC, 5.96 to 5.33 Ma; Krijgsman et al., 1999 and references therein; Fig. 1): its disconnection from the Atlantic Ocean led to a sea level fall of more than 1000 m (Clauzon, 1978; Savoye and Piper, 1991). This caused extensive erosion of the basin margins and deposition of thick evaporites in its centre, and influenced the tectonic evolution of the neighbouring orogens and basin margins (e.g. Gorini et al., 2005; Willett et al., 2006; Govers et al., 2009). The MSC low-stand abruptly ended with the Zanclean flooding of the Mediterranean basin through the Strait of Gibraltar (Blanc, Correspondence: Karen A. Leever, University of Oslo, Department of Geosciences, P.O. Box 1047, Blindern N-0316 Oslo, Norway. Tel.: ; Fax: ; k.a.leever@geo.uio.no 2002; Loget and Van Den Driessche, 2006). During the Messinian, the Mediterranean Sea was flanked to the north by Paratethys, a generally shallow epicontinental sea that had formed as a remnant of the closing Tethys Ocean since the Oligocene (Fig. 2a). In the course of its evolution, Paratethys fragmented in various semi-isolated subdomains that gradually lost salinity, resulting in the development of brackish to fresh-water environments, their faunas recording periodic isolation from or connection with the main Central or Eastern Paratethys realm. The characteristic endemic faunas led to the definition of separate Neogene biostratigraphies for each basin (e.g. Ro gl, 1996) and resulted in large uncertainties in the correlations of local stages, especially between the Central and Eastern Paratethys (Fig. 1). The observation of Messinian fauna of Paratethyan affinity in Mediterranean deposits (Lago Mare facies; Ruggieri, 1967) incited the scientific interest in the physical connection between the two realms during the MSC and the signature of the MSC in the Paratethys. Base level falls in Paratethys have been repeatedly attributed to the MSC, in the Pannonian Basin (Csato et al., 2007), the Black Sea (Hsu and Giovanoli, 1979; Gillet et al., 2007) and its western appendix, the Dacic Basin (e.g. Clauzon et al., 2005; Stoica et al., 2007). Previous studies addressing the expression of the Mediterranean MSC in the Dacic Basin either proposed a direct connection to the Mediterranean (Clauzon et al., 2005) or influence on base level through the Black Sea (Gillet et al., 2007). The western Dacic Basin was thought to be desiccated except for a remnant lake on the northern margin (Clauzon et al., 2005; Gillet et al., 2007). In this paper, we use seismic sequence stratigraphy supported by bio- and magnetostratigraphic data, giving different constraints on the palaeogeographical evolution of the western Dacic Basin during the major sea level changes of the Messinian Salinity Crisis. The Dacic Basin within the Paratethys realm The Dacic Basin (Fig. 2) developed in the foreland of the South Carpathians after the Carpathian collision (c. 11 Ma, Matenco and Bertotti, 2000; Stoica et al., 2007). Part of Eastern Paratethys, it was separated Ó 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd 1

2 Messinian Zanclean Piac. Messinian sea level fall in the Dacic Basin K. A. Leever et al. Terra Nova, Vol 00, No. 0, 1 6 Time (Ma) Tortonian MSC Central Paratethys Steininger et al., 1988 Sacchi et al., 1999 R + D P Pn Csato et al., 2007 Intra-Messinian unconformity Eastern Paratethys / Dacic Basin Δsl - + Continental sedimentation from the Central Paratethys (Pannonian and Transylvanian basins) by the uplifting Carpathian mountain chain during the Middle early Late Miocene (e.g. Sanders et al., 1999). It has been argued that the present connection between the two realms, the Danube river crossing the South Carpathians at the Iron Gates (Fig. 2b), was established during the MSC (Clauzon et al., 2005). The Miocene R D P M Vasiliev et al., 2004, 2005 Stoica et al., unpublished data? HST2 HST1 LST2 TST2 SSQ2 SSQ1 SB2 Fig. 1 Correlation chart for the Central and Eastern Paratethys (Pannonian Dacic Basin), showing differences in the absolute age of the Pontian stage and relative sea level change in the Dacic Basin. Pn, Pannonian; M, Meotian; P, Pontian; D, Dacian; R, Romanian. Dacian and Romanian substages in the Pannonian basin cannot be separated at present at the precision required by this figure because of the mostly continental sedimentation and are therefore combined (R+D) in the Central Paratethys timescale. Note that the Pontian stage is furthermore separated in Odessian (Lower), Portaferian (Middle) and Bosphorian (Upper). Mediterranean MSC lowstand sensu Krijgsman et al. (1999) ( Ma) is highlighted. connection between the brackish Dacic basin and the much larger Black Sea is proven by the common Eastern Paratethys fauna (e.g. Popov et al., 2006 and references therein). The basins were linked by a narrow corridor north of Dobrogea herewith defined as the ÔScythian gatewayõ (Fig. 2a). There, the sedimentation is interrupted by a Lower Middle Pontian unconformity (Saulea et al., 1969). Integrated magneto-biostratigraphic dating of long and continuous sedimentary successions in the east and south Carpathian foredeep recently established a detailed chronology for the Mio-Pliocene Dacic Basin, resolving uncertainties in the absolute ages of local stages (Fig. 1; Vasiliev et al., 2004, 2005). This new time scale shows that the acme of the MSC corresponds to the middle Pontian (Portaferrian) substage. The Pliocene flooding of the Mediterranean at 5.33 Ma roughly coincides with the Middle Upper Pontian (Portaferrian Bosphorian) boundary, rather than with the previously assumed Pontian Dacian boundary (Ro gl, 1996) or the uppermost part of the Bosphorian (Clauzon et al., 2005). A sequence stratigraphic study of the uppermost Miocene Pliocene sediments of the Dacic basin is favoured by the period of relative tectonic quiescence which characterized this time interval. Recent detailed structural and tectonic studies (e.g. Matenco et al., 2003, 2007; Tarapoanca et al., 2003 and references therein) have demonstrated that the period between 11 Ma and the onset of the Quaternary is characterized only by constant and reduced subsidence, generally related to the pull exerted by the Vrancea slab in the SE Carpathians corner. Upper Miocene to Recent sedimentary architecture A series of 2D industry seismic reflection profiles (largely unpublished except Matresu, 2004; Rabagia and Matenco, 1999) were combined into a > 200 km cross section across the central-western part of the Dacic Basin, correlating sedimentological and biostratigraphical features described in wells and outcrops near the basin margins (Leever, 2007; Stoica et al., 2007 and references therein) with the subsurface geometry of the Upper Miocene Pliocene sediments. The interpretation was corroborated by additional seismic lines and well data (see also supplement and Leever, 2007). In the shallow part of the basin, two seismic sequences, separated by a major unconformity (SB2), were distinguished in the post-orogenic sediments of the Dacic Basin (Fig. 3 and Fig. S1). These sequences are Meotian Lower Pontian (SSQ1) and Middle Pontian Dacian (SSQ2) in age and are characterized by well-developed clinoforms, arranged into prograding bodies progressively filling the basin accommodation space. Based on the depositional shelf edge trajectory (sensu Galloway, 1989), the sequences were subdivided into mainly progradational (LST1, LST2) and progradational-aggradational units (HST1). These geometric units were interpreted in terms of composite stratigraphic base level fluctuations, describing changes in accommodation at the shoreline (e.g. Catuneanu, 2006): the progradational units were deposited during periods of falling and low base level (LST1, LST2), the progradational-aggradational one during rising and high base level (HST1). In front of HST1, a forced regressive prism is recognized (indicated by ÔPÕ on the inset in Fig. 3), the deposition of which is associated with erosion of HST1 and onto which LST2 is onlapping. This onlap may be as a result of a change in source area arising from the base level fall which defined the sequence boundary between SSQ1 and SSQ2 (SB2). SB2 was an erosional surface during the deposition of the forced regressive prism and a sediment bypass surface with probably some erosion during deposition of LST2. The base level fall associated with SB2 is roughly estimated at 100 m, based on the elevation difference between the inferred shorelines above and below the sequence boundary (at >190 km and 154 km respectively for HST1 and LST2; Fig. 3 and Fig. S1), taking into account the differential compaction across the Getic fault (Fig. 3). A more accurate estimate would require depth conversion and restoration of the section, along with better constraints on the nature of the topsets of HST1 2 Ó 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

3 Terra Nova, Vol 00, No. 0, 1 6 K. A. Leever et al. Messinian sea level fall in the Dacic Basin (a) (b) condensed interval of distal bottomsets associated with the clinoforms near the basin margins, in agreement with the distal facies observed in well logs (Fig. S2). According to the definition of the Ôgenetic unitõ in Catuneanu (2006), the maximum flooding surface separating TST and HST should be expected somewhere in the middle of the transparent unit. The reflection we picked for reasons of mappability is a lithological transition rather than a systems tract boundary. HST2 represents the regressive stage of complete basin fill during the Dacian-Quaternary consisting of sandstones and lignites deposited in a limnic environment (Popescu et al., 2006). These could be considered a separate unit, but the transition from HST2 is not resolved in our seismic data being so close to the surface. Fig. 2 Location maps. (a) Messinian palaeogeography of the Mediterranean and Paratethys just before the Messinian Salinity Crisis (modified from Popov et al., 2006) showing the Dacic Basin (DB) in relation to the Carpathians and other Paratethys sub-basins. (b) Location of interpreted seismic lines and wells in the western part of the Dacic Basin. Dashed lines within the remnant lake indicate the decreasing deep basin area due to the progressive infilling of the basin during the Middle Pontian lowstand (LST2). Extent of eastern lake from Clauzon et al. (2005). to determine properly the position of the shoreline at that time. LST2 is restricted to the centre of the basin (see Fig. 2b for the evolution of the lake extent during this time) and characterized by a very flat shelf edge trajectory, toplap terminations and clinoform heights of ca 300 ms. Overlying all of the previous deposits and extending to the edges of the section is a unit (TST2) characterized by small clinoforms near the basin margins (part h in Fig. 3 and Fig. S1) and seismic transparency in the centre (Fig. 3, inset). This seismically transparent part of TST2 is considered a Control on the Mio-Pliocene sequences: palaeogeographical setting The observed base level changes may be as a result of local or regional control. We will argue for the latter and discuss the independent constraints derived from the geometry of the sediments (determined by the interplay of sea lake level change, tectonics and supply) and from age correlations. The key criterion to indicate control of (relative) sea level rather than sediment supply on sedimentary architecture (sensu Galloway, 1989) is subaerial exposure of marine sediments at the sequence boundary (Schlager, 1993). In the Dacic Basin, surrounded on all sides by elevated topography, the supply was generally high throughout the entire Mio-Pliocene interval. This is best expressed by the architecture of sequence SSQ1, lacking a clear transgressive systems tract because rates of rise post-dating LST1 never outpaced sedimentation rates (e.g. Catuneanu, 2006): HST1 on the northern basin margin is both aggrading and prograding into the basin. The main evidence for subaerial exposure of the shelf is the truncation of HST1, which favours an accommodation control on depositional geometries. The sediments of both HST1 and TST2 HST2 reach the basin margin at the northern end of the section Ó 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd 3

4 Messinian sea level fall in the Dacic Basin K. A. Leever et al. Terra Nova, Vol 00, No. 0, 1 6 Fig. 3 Sequence stratigraphic interpretation of a seismic section extending from the western to the northern margin of the western Dacic Basin (location in Fig. 2b). Surface data in the westernmost area from Clauzon et al. (2005). Seismic data and more detailed description in Supplement (Fig. S1). Note the very flat shelf edge trajectory of LST2, restricted to the centre of the section, while TST2 extends to the edge of the section, to the basin margins. Inset: Seismic detail of SB2. (Fig. 3), overstepping the footwall block of the Getic Fault: the accommodation space for these units is unrelated to fault motions. Therefore, the observed sedimentary architecture is most likely controlled by absolute changes in the water level. These changes may either reflect variations in the local water budget of the isolated basin, or regional (i.e. also affecting the surrounding Paratethys basins) changes in sea level. The water level changes in lakes and semiisolated basins are in contrast to those in the open sea a function of the hydrological balance in the drainage area and supply and accommodation are therefore intimately linked: a dry climate would lead to a lower lake level and at the same time reduced sedimentation rates (e.g. Garcia- Castellanos, 2006). Within the limitations of the 2D data, a decrease in sedimentation rates is not evident considering the relatively short time available for the deposition of LST2 (Figs 1 and 3). Also, the overall low salinity in the Dacic Basin (e.g. Marinescu et al., 1981) points at a positive water balance, suggesting regional, rather than local, control on the base level. Arguments for regional control on the base level are additionally provided by age correlations with events in other Paratethys basins and the Mediterranean (Figs. 1 and 2). The ÔGilbert fan deltaõ described at the Danube outlet of the Iron Gates as a Pliocene transgression following the Messinian desiccation of the Dacic Basin (Fig. 3; Clauzon et al., 2005) could be correlated in our seismic lines with either the upper part of TST2 or with HST2, which, according to our well data (Fig. S1), together comprises the time interval of Upper Pontian Dacian (i.e. Pliocene; Vasiliev et al., 2005; Fig. 1). The SB2 unconformity can be traced to the northern basin margin, where Stoica et al. (2007) determined its age between Meotian and Upper Pontian times. The Middle Pontian base level drop in the Dacic basin (LST2) is coeval with the large sea level drop reaching the deep parts of the Black Sea (Gillet et al., 2007), and with the low-stand of the Mediterranean during the MSC (Fig. 1). We propose the following model for the Pontian base-level evolution of the Dacic Basin. Once the sea level of 4 Ó 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd int

5 Terra Nova, Vol 00, No. 0, 1 6 K. A. Leever et al. Messinian sea level fall in the Dacic Basin Connectivity with upstream (Pannonian) basin influences supply the Black Sea had dropped below the Scythian gateway, it no longer exerted any control on the base level in the Dacic Basin (e.g. Garcia-Castellanos, 2006; Fig. 4). The Dacic lake level remained largely constant in the middle Pontian because of a positive water balance, modified only by erosional lowering of the outlet to the Black Sea. This explains the extended period of constant to slowly falling base level during the deposition of LST2, corresponding to a maximum water depth of 300 m derived from the height of the clinoforms. Somewhat speculatively, sediment supply was probably strongly influenced by the connection with the upstream Pannonian Basin through the Iron Gates. The intra-messinian unconformity of the Pannonian Basin (Csato et al., 2007) correlates with LST2 (Fig. 1), which suggests that the corresponding Pannonian water level fall may have been in response to the base level lowering in the Dacic Basin (see also Tari et al., 1992; Leever et al., submitted). The re-establishment of the connection between basins was probably driven by the sea-level rise in the larger Black Sea realm over the height of the Scythian gateway. Conclusions Seismic sequence stratigraphic interpretation is shown to be an important additional tool in constraining palaeogeographical evolution. Our study confirmed that the effects of the Messinian Salinity Crisis extended into Paratethys at least as far as into the western part of the Dacic basin, where a major sea level fall was observed in the Middle Pontian. The response of the Dacic basin to downstream sea level changes was controlled by the sill Connectivity with downstream (Black Sea) basin influences accommodation Pannonian Basin Dacic Basin Black Sea Fig. 4 Cartoon showing the influence of connectivity on accommodation and sediment supply. Vertical arrows indicate base level fluctuations. level of the gateway to the Black Sea. Once disconnected, the base level in the Dacic basin was determined by its local hydrological balance. Connectivity with both the downstream Black Sea and the upstream Pannonian basin is identified as the key factor influencing the Pontian sedimentary architecture in the Dacic Basin respectively controlling base level and sediment supply. Acknowledgements The authors are indebted to Romanian National Agency for Mineral Resources, Petrom SA and Sterling Resources (UK) LTD for providing and allowing publication of the seismic and well data. 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