The legacy of the Tethys Ocean: Anoxic seas, evaporitic basins, and megalakes in the Cenozoic of Central Europe

At the end of the Eocene, the demise of the Tethys Ocean led to the formation of one of the largest anoxic seas in the last 50 million years of Earth history. This long-lived anoxic water body, named Paratethys, covered large parts of central Eurasia and functioned as a major carbon sink for 15-20 million years, characterised by the deposition of cherts, anoxic turbidites and black shales. The anoxic episode was followed by a phase of instable connectivity where full marine episodes alternated with evaporitic crises and lacustrine episodes, resulting in the deposition of marine molasses, evaporites and continental-lacustrine sediments. Finally, Paratethys transformed into a megalake that progressively filled with clastic sediments from the neighbouring mountain ranges.