Abstract
The recent discovery of the psychrospheric ostracod Agrenocythere pliocenica (Seguenza) in Zanclean marls of eastern Crete1 expands the reach of early Pliocene deep-oceanic circulation far into the eastern Mediterranean. Current models of Pliocene water-mass circulation, though allowing for the Atlantic psychrosphere to flow freely into the western basin, consider the eastern basin as being largely stagnant2,3. I propose here a new model of estuarine circulation affecting both west and east Mediterranean. This circulation was associated with increased atmospheric humidity and driven by upwelling. The model is compatible with organic-rich sedimentation in parts of the eastern Mediterranean and does not imply an excessively deep or wide connection with the Atlantic.
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van Harten, D. A model of estuarine circulation in the Pliocene Mediterranean based on new ostracod evidence. Nature 312, 359–361 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1038/312359a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/312359a0
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