Paleobiological evidence of depositional conditions in the Salt Member, Gessoso-Solfifera Formation (Messinian, Upper Miocene) of Sicily

摘要

The micropaleontology of clayey layers within halite and kainite bodies in the Salt Member of the Lower Evaporitic Com- plex, in the Messinian (uppermost Miocene) Gessoso-Solfifera Formation, has been studied in samples taken from Racalmuto and Real- monte salt mines on the southern coast of Sicily. Rich paleobiological associations have been observed of (on the whole) well preserved foraminifers, nannoplankton, dinoflagellate cysts and pollen grains. The integrated analyses point to several normal-marine influxes that interrupted the formation of the evaporite deposits.