Résumé
MEDSALT aims to create a new flexible scientific network addressing the causes, timing, emplacement mechanisms, and consequences at local and planetary scale of the largest and most recent 'salt giant' on Earth: The late Miocene (Messinian) salt layer in the Mediterranean basin. It is a 1.5 km-thick salt layer that covered the bottom of the deep Mediterranean basins about 5.5 million years ago and is preserved beneath the deep ocean floor today. The origin of the Mediterranean salt giant is linked to an extraordinary event in the geological history of the Mediterranean region, commonly referred to as the Messinian Salinity Crisis. This COST Action, addressing so-called blue-sky research, is demonstrating the potential of a pan-European network, including several members of the southern rim of the Mediterranean, for promoting and implementing scientific initiatives. Not yet at his half-life time, the network has promoted three initiatives for scientific drilling in the Mediterranea Basin, and one Marie Sklodowska-Curie European Training Network is being activated, offering 15 PhD fellowship across Europe. New, unexpected contacts have been activated with the private industry, and the first important scientific products are released in the scientific literature. In all 200 scientists are working together across disciplines such as geophysics, geology, biology, microbiology, embracing social sciences, are working together towards a common scientific goal. [Copyright Author(s) 2018. CC Attribution 4.0 License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode]