Coral reefs in the western Mediterranean (southeast Spain, Balearic Island, northern Morocco, Sicily, and Italy) show a wide variety of cement types, ranging from completely tight, well-cemented, to poorly cemented reefs with most of the primary porosity still preserved. Cementation processes in those coral reefs appear to be controlled to a great extent by repeated changes of relative sea levels and regional variations of seawater chemistry. Reef progradation occurred during four to six (or more) important sea level changes, resulting in complicated geometric relationships of reef complexes and their freshwater lenses. Progradation occurred during sea level rises and falls and is reflected in abrupt escarpments in some field localities, generally separated by important t rraced erosional surfaces. Various types of "aragonitic isopachous" cement fringes of marine origin, 0.1 to 1.5 cm (.04 to .6 in.) thick, are well preserved in some localities. This is probably due to subsequent plugging by gypsum cement during the Messinian salinity crises. Another possible effect of salinity fluctuations is the abundance of thick crusts of peletoidal, micrite cement of marine origin, locally forming about three-fourths of the volume of the reef core.

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