Résumé
The Mediterranean and its adjacent sea, the former Paratethys, have been simultaneously affected by an outstanding brief sea-level drop (ca. - 1,500 m b.s.l., from 5.64 to 5.48 Ma) followed by a long highstand in sea-level (+ 70 m a.s.l., from 5.33 to 4.00 Ma). This exclusively Mediterranean s.l. endorheic sea-level cycle was caused by the almost complete tectonic isolation of the Mediterranean Basin (i.e. the peak of the famous Messinian Salinity Crisis) and resulted in huge subaerial erosion, especially expressed by fluvial canyons and the building of prograding Gilbert-type fan deltas progressively infilling the Early Pliocene rias up to the complete reconstruction of the shelf. This episode is particularly well-documented in the northwestern Mediterranean Basin, more precisely in the Gulf of Lions, where numerous seismic profiles are available and well-calibrated by a lot of commercial wells. In addition, this area benefits from the presence of the largest river in the Southwestern Europe, the Rhone River. This mega-cycle is preceded by a moderate eustatic cycle (ca. 150 m in amplitude, from 5.96 to 5.64 Ma), often documented on the marginal areas by a minor subaerial erosion and modest Gilbert-type fan delta construction. Such a feature in erosion-sedimentation succession was repeatedly evidenced all around the Mediterranean Basin and the Eastern Paratethys.