Migration of the dinoflagellate Galeacysta etrusca and its implications for the Messinian Salinity Crisis

Abstract

The First Occurrence of the cysts of the dinoflagellate Galeacysta etrusca is a well-known marker for the final stage of the Messinian Salinity Crisis in the Mediterranean Basin. This taxon originated from the Paratethys in the north and migrated in a stepwise fashion towards the Mediterranean. Using the First Occurrence of this species throughout different Paratethyan basins and the Mediterranean, we here update and revise its migration path. We show that G. etrusca rapidly migrated from the Pannonian Basin into the Dacian, Black Sea and Caspian basins after the Pontian flooding at ~ 6.1 Ma. During the final stage of the Messinian Salinity Crisis (5.37–5.33 Million year ago), G. etrusca simultaneously appeared in the Mediterranean, indicating a single phase of Paratethyan water spilling into the Mediterranean. We propose to reimpose this single brackish water dominated unit/phase at the end of the MSC as the only valid ʻLago Mareʼ event