A stratigraphic unit deposited close to the Messinian-Pliocene boundary is newly discovered in the Malaga
basin. This unit mainly consist of alluvial and lagoonal deposits. Paleontological and paleomagnetic data
from these deposits and from the overlying sediments indicate that the former were formed in the latest
Miocene, thus can be correlated with the so-called Lago Mare deposits. The latest Messinian and lower
Pliocene deposits are separated by an erosive surface (latest-Messinian discontinuity) that is related to a
relative sea-level fall previous to the earliest Pliocene general flooding