TY - JOUR
T1 - Late Miocene megalake regressions in Eurasia
AU - Palcu, Dan Valentin
AU - Patina, Irina Stanislavovna
AU - Șandric, Ionuț
AU - Lazarev, Sergei
AU - Vasiliev, Iuliana
AU - Stoica, Marius
AU - Krijgsman, Wout
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was financially supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) [grant 865.10.011] to WK; DP acknowledges the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) for financial support through grant 2018/20733-6; SL was financially supported by the PRIDE project (Pontocaspian RIse and DEmise), which was funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action (grant agreement no. 642973); I.P. acknowledges funding from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project A 19-05-00743 and State Assignment GIN RAS.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s).
PY - 2021/6/1
Y1 - 2021/6/1
N2 - The largest megalake in the geological record formed in Eurasia during the late Miocene, when the epicontinental Paratethys Sea became tectonically-trapped and disconnected from the global ocean. The megalake was characterized by several episodes of hydrological instability and partial desiccation, but the chronology, magnitude and impacts of these paleoenvironmental crises are poorly known. Our integrated stratigraphic study shows that the main desiccation episodes occurred between 9.75 and 7.65 million years ago. We identify four major regressions that correlate with aridification events, vegetation changes and faunal turnovers in large parts of Europe. Our paleogeographic reconstructions reveal that the Paratethys was profoundly transformed during regression episodes, losing ~ 1/3 of the water volume and ~ 70% of its surface during the most extreme events. The remaining water was stored in a central salt-lake and peripheral desalinated basins while vast regions (up to 1.75 million km2) became emergent land, suitable for development of forest-steppe landscapes. The partial megalake desiccations match with climate, food-web and landscape changes throughout Eurasia, although the exact triggers and mechanisms remain to be resolved.
AB - The largest megalake in the geological record formed in Eurasia during the late Miocene, when the epicontinental Paratethys Sea became tectonically-trapped and disconnected from the global ocean. The megalake was characterized by several episodes of hydrological instability and partial desiccation, but the chronology, magnitude and impacts of these paleoenvironmental crises are poorly known. Our integrated stratigraphic study shows that the main desiccation episodes occurred between 9.75 and 7.65 million years ago. We identify four major regressions that correlate with aridification events, vegetation changes and faunal turnovers in large parts of Europe. Our paleogeographic reconstructions reveal that the Paratethys was profoundly transformed during regression episodes, losing ~ 1/3 of the water volume and ~ 70% of its surface during the most extreme events. The remaining water was stored in a central salt-lake and peripheral desalinated basins while vast regions (up to 1.75 million km2) became emergent land, suitable for development of forest-steppe landscapes. The partial megalake desiccations match with climate, food-web and landscape changes throughout Eurasia, although the exact triggers and mechanisms remain to be resolved.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85107420981&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41598-021-91001-z
DO - 10.1038/s41598-021-91001-z
M3 - Article
C2 - 34075146
AN - SCOPUS:85107420981
SN - 2045-2322
VL - 11
SP - 1
EP - 12
JO - Scientific Reports
JF - Scientific Reports
IS - 1
M1 - 11471
ER -