Abstract:
Application of micropaleontological (nannoplankton) and paleomagnetic methods for stratigraphic subdivision and correlation of Upper Neogene stratigraphic units in the regional scale of the Euxinian region (the Black Sea areas of the Eastern Paratethys) and, what is more important, for defining the Miocene-Pliocene boundary in this region in accordance with the global (Mediterranean) scale resulted in substantial discrepancies between age estimates of local stages, substages, and beds. For instance, different authors define the Miocene-Pliocene boundary within a very wide time interval (more than 4 m.y.). The paper considers both the objective and subjective causes of these discrepancies and demonstrates the interconnection between geological events that occurred in the Mediterranean and Euxinian regions during the terminal Miocene-initial Pliocene. Contrary to concepts of other researchers, the boundary between the Pontian and Kimmerian regional stages in the Euxinian region is considered as representing the age and event analogue of the Miocene-Pliocene boundary that is defined in the Mediterranean as corresponding to the boundary between Messinian and Zanclean stages. Sea-level fluctuations in the Euxinian (Black Sea, Sea of Azov, and Dacian) basins at the end of the Pontian and in the Kimmerian ages reflect changes in the hydrological regime in the Mediterranean Sea and World Ocean.