Palaeoenvironmental evolution of the post-evaporitic Messinian sequence of Eraclea Minoa (Sicily) by means of ostracods: preliminary results

The Eraclea Minoa section, located on the south-western coast of Sicily, 33 km SE of the city of Sciacca, is a well known geological site as it is the type locality for the Messinian/Zanclean GSSP (VAN COUVERING et alii, 2000), and also one of the most famous section for the study of the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC). Although numerous authors have studied the Eraclea Minoa section with a great detail from a sedimentological and stratigraphical point of view (see ROVERI et alii, 2006 for updated references), the paleontology of the post-evaporitic Messinian portion counts very few studies (DECIMA, 1964; BONADUCE & SGARRELLA, 1999). Recently, the 258 m-thick sedimentary succession cropping out at Eraclea Minoa (Fig. 1) has been sampled again with a great detail with the aim of a multidisciplinary approach, paleontological (benthic foraminifers, molluscs, ostracods, pollen, dinocysts) and geochemical (Sr, O, C stable isotopes and trace elements), in order to depict the palaeoenvironmental changes that occurred during the lago-mare phase of the MSC. In this communication are presented the preliminary results of the ostracod analyses.