Sub-aerial erosional unconformities and onlap relationships support that the arc was active between ~10вЂ“6вЂ‰Ma.

Isostatic considerations support that the arc-crust buoyancy created an archipelago leading to a filter bridgeВ across the EAB. We present new seismic data showing the velocity structure of a well-differentiated 14вЂ“17-km thick volcanic arc in the EAB. Yet, a structure explaining jointly geological and biological observations has remained undiscovered.

Exchange of terrestrial biota occurred before, during and after the MSC, and speciation models support an exchange path across the East AlborГЎn basin (EAB) located a few hundreds of km east of the Gibraltar Strait. These hypotheses however, do not integrate contemporaneous speciation patterns of the faunal exchange between Iberia and AfricaВ and severalВ geological featuresВ like the evaporite distribution. Recent hypotheses infer that the MSC initiated after the closure of the Atlantic-Mediterranean Betic and Rifean corridors, being modulated through restriction at the Gibraltar Strait. What process triggered the Mediterranean Sea restriction remains debated since the discovery of the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC).

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