The Mediterranean region. A–B: Paleogeographic reconstruction of the Northeastern Atlantic and Mediterranean regions up to the Central Paratethys during the two steps of the Messinian Crisis: A, first (peripheral and limited) step; B, second (central and paroxysmal) step (Clauzon et al., 1996). These maps (modified from Suc et al., 2019) consider the occurrence of the volcanic arc proposed by Booth-Rea et al. (2018) and the resulting perched marine isolated basin in the Western Alboran Sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean by the pre-existing Gibraltar Strait (Krijgsman et al., 2018). GB, Guadalquivir Basin; RB, Rabat Basin; WAB, Western Alboran Basin. C: Location of the pollen localities considered in this paper. 1, Carmona; 2, Montemayor-1; 3, Capodarso; 4, Racalmuto; 5, Realmonte; 6, Eraclea Minoa; 7, Capo Rossello; 8, Bou Regreg. The map is elaborated using GeoMapApp (Ryan et al., 2009).