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Un processus original de construction–accumulation à vermets (Messinien, Maroc)

Jean-Paul SAINT MARTIN, Gilles CONESA, Jean-Jacques CORNÉE, Simona SAINT MARTIN, Jean-Pierre ANDRÉ, Anne RIBAUD-LAURENTI & Abdelkhalak BENMOUSSA

fr Comptes Rendus Palevol 6 (1-2) - Pages 73-85

Published on 28 February 2007

This article is a part of the thematic issue Fossil bioaccumulations and bioconstructions

An unusual building–accumulation process of vermetids (Messinian, Morocco)

The first prograding bioclastic bodies of the Messinian carbonate platform from Melilla-Nador (Morocco) contain numerous feeding tubes of Vermetidae (Petaloconchus) shells. This accumulation results from dense littoral settlements of vermetids, sometimes preserved in place in the higher part of the system, having produced during their life several tubes in a short duration, probably under repeated stressing environmental conditions. The progradation of the system allows, under constant sea level, the continuity of the process. This original construction–cutting–accumulation phenomenon could be related to the fluctuations of the palaeoproductivity characterizing this period.


Keywords:

Vermets, carbonate build-ups, bioaccumulations, Messinian, Mediterranean, Morocco

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