Les paléopeuplements marins du Messinien pré-évaporitique de Pissouri (Chypre, Méditerranée orientale) : aspects paléoécologiques précédant la crise de salinité messinienne

The motorway section of Pissouri (Cyprus) allows to observe a nearly uninterrupted succession of marine sediments from the upper Tortonian up to the lower Messinian gypsum. Its palaeoecological analysis is given, based on the study of 180 samples containing faunal (fishes [four species], molluses [about 25 benthic species and one planktonic], sponges [seven genera] and foraminifera [100 species]) and floral (diatoms [90 species] and silicoflagellates [four species]) assemblages. Although characterized by a low diversity, the malacofauna shows strong affinities with those of the lower Messinian sediments from Crete (Greece) and Piedmont (Italy).