The Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC) created a substantial negative impact on the Mediterranean marine fauna and flora because hypersaline conditions were established in many marginal basins. At the northern margin of the Tertiary Piedmont Basin, Northern Italy, the Messinian successions exposed at Banengo and Moncalvo recorded the transition into and through the MSC with well-preserved nanno-, micro- and macrofossils. Siliceous sponge spicules present in these pre-MSC sediments reflect the sponge population in this area with twenty different morphological types of spicule identified, twelve of them attributable to sponge genera of the modern Mediterranean sponge fauna. The most common genera were Stelletta, Geodia and Dercitus, with fewer records of Tethya, Chondrilla, Alectona and Samus. Only two types of spicule belong to species not currently present in the Mediterranean sponge fauna and are putatively attributed to the tropical species Stelletta purpurea and Diplastrella megastellata. The sponge assemblage thriving before the onset of the MSC provided new information on the sponge diversity and palaeoenvironment of this northern sector of the palaeo-Mediterranean basin over this crucial period. These data, integrated with information derived from the associated fossils (nannofossils, benthic and planktic foraminifers, and bryozoans), indicate that the considered sites were coastal localities, with sediments rich in an organic matter likely derived from phytoplankton blooms. At both sites, the presence of patchy rocky substrates on the seafloor is testified by a diversified group of sponges typical of hard substrata. These rocks were, very likely, carbonate as suggested by the presence of spicules of typical boring sponges. In the studied sites, common epiphytic foraminifers and bryozoan segments indicate the presence of Posidonia seagrass or algal meadows.

中文翻译：

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意大利北部前墨西拿危机沉积物中海绵针状体的古环境意义

墨西拿盐度危机 (MSC) 对地中海海洋动植物群产生了重大的负面影响，因为许多边缘盆地都建立了高盐度条件。在意大利北部第三纪皮埃蒙特盆地的北缘，在 Banengo 和 Moncalvo 出露的墨西拿系列记录了进入和穿过 MSC 的过渡，其中保存了保存完好的纳米、微型和大型化石。存在于这些前 MSC 沉积物中的硅质海绵骨针反映了该地区的海绵种群，确定了 20 种不同形态的骨针，其中 12 种可归因于现代地中海海绵动物群的海绵属。最常见的属是 Stelletta、Geodia 和 Dercitus，对 Tethya、Chondrilla、Alectona 和 Samus 的记录较少。只有两种类型的针刺属于目前不存在于地中海海绵动物群中的物种，并被推定为热带物种 Stelletta purpurea 和 Diplastrella megastellata。在 MSC 开始之前繁荣的海绵组合提供了有关这一关键时期古地中海盆地北部地区海绵多样性和古环境的新信息。这些数据与来自相关化石（纳米化石、底栖和浮游有孔虫和苔藓虫）的信息相结合，表明所考虑的地点是沿海地区，沉积物中富含可能来自浮游植物大量繁殖的有机物质。在这两个地点，海底存在斑块状的岩石基质，这可以通过多种典型的硬质基质海绵群来证明。这些岩石很可能是碳酸盐岩，正如典型的钻孔海绵的针状体的存在所暗示的那样。在研究地点，常见的附生有孔虫和苔藓虫片段表明存在 Posidonia 海草或藻类草甸。