The salt giant beneath the deep Mediterranean seafloor is the impressive record of the “Messinian salinity crisis,” a dramatic event that occurred about 6 Ma ago following the reduction of the connections with the Atlantic Ocean.

Three different types of carbonate deposits are included within the "Calcare di Base",commonly envisaged to record the Messinian salinity crisis onset: type 1 consists of sulphur-bearinglimestones, representing the biogenic product of bacterial sulphate reduction after original gypsum;type 2 comprises dm-thick laminated dolomitic limestones interbedded with diatomites, sapropels andmarls found at the top the Tripoli Formation; type 3, the most common variety, consists of m-thickbrecciated limestones interbedded with shales and clastic gypsum.Type 3 shows sedimentary features suggesting a clastic origin and deposition from high- to lowdensitygravity flows; thus, these deposits can be regarded as an end-member of a large variety ofevaporite-bearing gravity flow deposits, with a dominant carbonate component.The genetic and stratigraphic characterization of these carbonates has strong implications for a bettercomprehension of Messinian events; the three types of Calcare di Base seem to have formed duringdifferent stages of the Messinian salinity crisis (MSC). Type 2 formed in the first stage (5.96-5.60 Ma),and is the only type that can be regarded as the Lower Gypsum time-equivalent. Type 3 was depositedin the second stage (5.60-5.55 Ma) and its base is associated with a regional-scale hiatus and erosion(Messinian erosional surface). Type 1 formed even later, likely in post-Messinian time, throughdiagenetic processes affecting resedimented gypsum deposited during the second stage of the MSC.It follows that not all the Calcare di Base deposits record the onset of the Messinian salinity crisis, ascommonly thought. Thus, a detailed facies characterization of these carbonate deposits is fundamental for both stratigraphic reconstructions and a better comprehension of Messinian events