After an intense effort in chronology (magnetostratigraphy, biostratigraphy), the effects of the Messinian Salinity Crisis have been explored all around the Mediterranean Sea and its appendix, the Eastern Paratethys. The respective influence of regional tectonics and global climate has been estimated, the role of the latter cannot be neglected. The Messinian Erosional Surface cuts everywhere the marginal evaporites and correlates to the halite in the central deep basins, an observation that led to the two-step scenario of the crisis (Clauzon et al., 1996). The Lago Mare biofacies results from various paleogeographic conditions, reproduced several times: Mediterranean–Paratethys exchanges during high sea-levels, dilution by river input at the end of the evaporitic phase. Henceforth, Lago Mare cannot have a chronostratigraphic value. This dense THE MESSINIAN SALINITY CRISIS FROM MEGA-DEPOSITS TO MICROBIOLOGY A CONSENSUS REPORT – Almeria, 7-10 November 2007 31 CIESM Workshop Monographs n°33