For the first time, results of an integrated geochemical and micropalaeontological study of upper Miocene sapropelites in a land-based section in the Mediterranean are presented. Three sapropelites and adjacent homogeneous intervals in the Cretan Faneromeni section have been investigated in detail. The chemical and foraminiferal characteristics were found to be markedly similar to those of Plio-Pleistocene sapropelites. As the physiography and climate of the late Miocene Mediterranean were not fundamentally different from those of today, our preferred model for late Miocene sapropelite formation is similar to the one recently developed for Plio-Pleistocene sapropelites. Increased seasonality and freshwater input during northern hemisphere summer insolation maxima triggered high export production and oxygen consumption rates, which, in combination with a concomitant decrease in deep water formation rate, resulted in the observed high organic matter content of the sapropelites. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1996