Jan 21, 2025 08:33 PM
This was already a long known event. The study actually claims to add more data about it.
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New evidence suggests megaflood refilled the Mediterranean Sea 5 million years ago
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1071016
INTRO: A new study provides compelling new evidence that a colossal ‘megaflood’ refilled the Mediterranean Sea, ending a period during which the Med was a vast expanse of salt flats. The study suggests the Zanclean Megaflood ended the Messinian Salinity Crisis, which lasted between 5.97 and 5.33 million years ago.
An international team of scientists, including the University of Southampton, have identified a series of geological features around South East Sicily that point to a massive flood taking place across the region.
“The Zanclean megaflood was an awe-inspiring natural phenomenon, with discharge rates and flow velocities dwarfing any other known floods in Earth’s history,” said Dr. Aaron Micallef, lead author of the study and researcher at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California. “Our research provides the most compelling evidence yet of this extraordinary event.”
During the Messinian Salinity Crisis, the Mediterranean Sea became isolated from the Atlantic Ocean and evaporated, leading to vast salt deposits which reshaped the region’s landscape.
For years, scientists had thought that this dry period ended gradually, with the Mediterranean refilling over a period of 10,000 years. But this idea was challenged by the discovery of an erosion channel stretching from the Gulf of Cadiz to the Alboran Sea in 2009. The finding pointed to a single, massive flooding event, lasting between two and 16 years, which became known as the Zanclean megaflood.
Estimates suggest the megaflood had a discharge from 68 to 100 Sverdrups (Sv), with one Sv equal to one million cubic metres per second.
The new research published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment combines newly discovered geological features with geophysical data and numerical modelling to provide the most comprehensive picture yet of the megaflood... (MORE - details, no ads)
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New evidence suggests megaflood refilled the Mediterranean Sea 5 million years ago
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1071016
INTRO: A new study provides compelling new evidence that a colossal ‘megaflood’ refilled the Mediterranean Sea, ending a period during which the Med was a vast expanse of salt flats. The study suggests the Zanclean Megaflood ended the Messinian Salinity Crisis, which lasted between 5.97 and 5.33 million years ago.
An international team of scientists, including the University of Southampton, have identified a series of geological features around South East Sicily that point to a massive flood taking place across the region.
“The Zanclean megaflood was an awe-inspiring natural phenomenon, with discharge rates and flow velocities dwarfing any other known floods in Earth’s history,” said Dr. Aaron Micallef, lead author of the study and researcher at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California. “Our research provides the most compelling evidence yet of this extraordinary event.”
During the Messinian Salinity Crisis, the Mediterranean Sea became isolated from the Atlantic Ocean and evaporated, leading to vast salt deposits which reshaped the region’s landscape.
For years, scientists had thought that this dry period ended gradually, with the Mediterranean refilling over a period of 10,000 years. But this idea was challenged by the discovery of an erosion channel stretching from the Gulf of Cadiz to the Alboran Sea in 2009. The finding pointed to a single, massive flooding event, lasting between two and 16 years, which became known as the Zanclean megaflood.
Estimates suggest the megaflood had a discharge from 68 to 100 Sverdrups (Sv), with one Sv equal to one million cubic metres per second.
The new research published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment combines newly discovered geological features with geophysical data and numerical modelling to provide the most comprehensive picture yet of the megaflood... (MORE - details, no ads)