MEDSALC is intended as the first extensive study of the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC) in the eastern Mediterranean. Detailed biostratigraphy, magnetostratigraphy, chemostratigraphy, cyclostratigraphy, seismic stratigraphy, sedimentology, palaeontology, palaeoecology, organic and isotopic geochemistry, organic biomarker analysis, and sclerochronology are integrated to provide:

1. Analytical record of the sedimentologic sequences correlated with the MSC in Greece,
2. Detailed late Miocene chronostratigraphic framework for the eastern Mediterranean, correlated with the western sub-basin,
3. Palaeoenvironmental reconstructions before, during and after the MSC,
4. Palaeoceanographic and palaeoclimatic reconstructions,
5. Palaeobiogeographic reconstructions, assessing the MSC's impact on aquatic life, and
6. Petroleum potential estimation for the upper Miocene formations of Greece.

Accordingly, the working plan was organized in seven overlapping work packages:

1. Literature Review,
2. Field work (Ionian Islands, western continental Greece, Epirus, western Peloponessus, Macedonia, Crete),
3. Sample preparation,
4. Analyses,
5. Results processing,
6. Synthesis, and
7. Results publication and dissemination.

This project constitutes a novel multidisciplinary approach to deciphering a major geologic phenomenon, which remains in the height of worldwide scientific interest for the past 30 years. The MSC has been thoroughly researched in the western and central Mediterranean, but scarce studies have so far been performed in the eastern sub-basin. This is an important gap in basic geologic research, which becomes even more crucial considering the eastern Mediterranean areas susceptibility to the modern environmental perturbations. Understanding the biotic and abiotic response mechanisms under extreme environmental stress conditions, such as those prevailing during the MSC, will ultimately allow to better monitor and protect these areas.