earth science

Messinian

Messinian is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Messinian rather than just read about it. In short: The Messinian is in the geologic timescale the last age or uppermost stage of the Miocene. It spans the time between 7.246 ± 0.005 Ma and 5.333 ± 0.005 Ma (million years ago).

Key takeaways

Messinian belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Messinian to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Messinian from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Messinian is in the geologic timescale the last age or uppermost stage of the Miocene. It spans the time between 7.246 ± 0.005 Ma and 5.333 ± 0.005 Ma (million years ago). It follows the Tortonian and is followed by the Zanclean, the first age of the Pliocene. The Messinian overlaps the Turolian European Land Mammal Mega Zone (more precisely MN 12 and 13) and the Pontian Central European Paratethys Stage. It also overlaps the late Huayquerian and early Montehermosan South American Land Mammal Ages, and falls inside the more extensive Hemphillian North American Land Mammal Age. During the Messinian, around 6 million years ago, the Messinian salinity crisis took place, which brought about repeated desiccations of the Mediterranean Sea.

Definition

The Messinian was introduced by Swiss stratigrapher Karl Mayer-Eymar in 1867. Its name comes from the Italian city of Messina on Sicily, where the Messinian evaporite deposit is of the same age. The base of the Messinian is at the first appearance of the planktonic foram species Globorotalia conomiozea and is stratigraphically in the middle of magnetic chronozone C3Br.1r. The Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point for the Messinian is located in a section at Oued Akrech, near the Moroccan capital Rabat. The top of the Messinian (the base of the Zanclean Stage and Pliocene Series) lies with the top of magnetic chronozone Cr3 (about 100,000 years before the Thvera normal subchronozone C3n.4n). The top is also close to the extinction level of the calcareous nanoplankton species Triquetrorhabdulus rugosus (the base of biozone CN10b) and the first appearance of nanoplankton Ceratolithus acutus.

Palaeoclimatology In South Asia, the first part of the Messinian up to about 6.0 Ma is associated with major drying that transformed the region from being mainly dominated by C3 forest and woodland to a C4 savanna. The Messinian in Namibia is associated with a climatic transition from the relatively wet Tortonian climate to the arid one of the Zanclean.

References

Sources Gradstein, F.M.; J.G. Ogg; A.G. Smith (2004). A Geologic Time Scale 2004. Cambridge University Press. Hilgen, F.J.; S. Iaccarino; W. Krijgsman; G. Villa; C.G. Langereis; W.J. Zachariasse (2000). The Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) of the Messinian Stage (uppermost Miocene). pp. 172–178. Hsü, K.J. (1983). The Mediterranean Was a Desert. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Mayer-Eymar, Karl (1867). Catalogue systématique et descriptif des fossiles des terrains tertiaires qui se trouvent du Musée fédéral de Zürich (in French). Zürich.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

External links

GeoWhen Database - Messinian Messinian online - living in an evaporitic world - Mediterranean area Neogene timescale, at the website of the subcommission for stratigraphic information of the ICS Neogene timescale at the website of the Norwegian network of offshore records of geology and stratigraphy

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Messinian

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Messinian claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Messinian before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Messinian ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Messinian

In research: Messinian appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Messinian in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Messinian is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Geological ages, Messinian, Messinian first appearances, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Messinian outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Messinian in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Messinian means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Messinian out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Messinian in simple terms?

The Messinian is in the geologic timescale the last age or uppermost stage of the Miocene. It spans the time between 7.246 ± 0.005 Ma and 5.333 ± 0.005 Ma (million years ago).

Why does Messinian matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Messinian?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Messinian.