Vegetation climate and marine environmental reconstruction in the western Mediterranean (southern Rifian corridor, Morocco) over the Tortonian-Messinian transition.

The Southern Rifian Corridor was a gateway connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean in the Late Miocene. Its rapid narrowing at the Tortonian - Messinian transition around 7.2 Ma, resulting from very intense tectonic activity, has triggered an ecological crisis well before the deposition of the Messinian Salinity crisis evaporites.