Drying-up of the Mediterranean Sea from 5.96 to 5.33 million years ago
The Messinian salinity crisis (also referred to as the Messinian event, and in its latest stage as the Lago Mare event) was a geological event during which the Mediterranean Sea went into a cycle of partial or nearly complete desiccation (drying-up) throughout the latter part of the Messinian age of the Miocene epoch, from 5.96 to 5.33 Ma (million years ago). It ended with the Zanclean flood, when the Atlantic reclaimed the basin.[1][2]
Neogene graphical timeline
This box:
view
talk
edit
−24 —
–
−22 —
–
−20 —
–
−18 —
–
−16 —
–
−14 —
–
−12 —
–
−10 —
–
−8 —
–
−6 —
–
−4 —
–
−2 —
C e n o z o i c
Paleogene
N e o g e n e
Quaternary
M i o c e n e
P l i o.
Aquitanian
Burdigalian
Langhian
Serravallian
Tortonian
Messinian
Zanclean
Piacenzian
←
Messinian salinity crisis[3]
←
North American prairie expands[4]
Subdivision of the Neogene according to the ICS, as of 2021.[5] Vertical axis: millions of years ago.
Sediment samples from below the deep seafloor of the Mediterranean Sea, which include evaporite minerals, soils, and fossil plants, show that the precursor of the Strait of Gibraltar closed about 5.96 million years ago, sealing the Mediterranean off from the Atlantic.[6] This resulted in a period of partial desiccation of the Mediterranean Sea, the first of several such periods during the late Miocene.[7] After the strait closed for the last time around 5.6 Ma, the region's generally dry climate at the time dried the Mediterranean basin out nearly completely within a thousand years. This massive desiccation left a deep dry basin, reaching 3 to 5 km (1.9 to 3.1 mi) deep below normal sea level, with a few hypersaline pockets similar to today's Dead Sea. Then, around 5.5 Ma, wetter climatic conditions resulted in the basin receiving more freshwater from rivers, progressively filling and diluting the hypersaline lakes into larger pockets of brackish water (much like today's Caspian Sea). The Messinian salinity crisis ended with the Strait of Gibraltar finally reopening 5.33 Ma, when the Atlantic rapidly filled up the Mediterranean basin in what is known as the Zanclean flood.[8]
Even today, the Mediterranean is considerably saltier than the North Atlantic, owing to its near isolation by the Strait of Gibraltar and its high rate of evaporation. If the Strait of Gibraltar closes again (which is likely to happen in the near future in geological time), the Mediterranean would mostly evaporate in about a thousand years, after which continued northward movement of Africa may obliterate the Mediterranean altogether.
Only the inflow of Atlantic water maintains the present Mediterranean level. When that was shut off sometime between 6.5 to 6 MYBP, net evaporative loss set in at the rate of around 3,300 cubic kilometers yearly. At that rate, the 3.7 million cubic kilometres of water in the basin would dry up in scarcely more than a thousand years, leaving an extensive layer of salt some tens of meters thick and raising global sea level about 12 meters.[9]
^Gautier, F., Clauzon, G., Suc, J.P., Cravatte, J., Violanti, D., 1994. Age and duration of the Messinian salinity crisis. C.R. Acad. Sci., Paris (IIA) 318, 1103–1109.
^Krijgsman, W (August 1996). "A new chronology for the middle to late Miocene continental record in Spain" (PDF). Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 142 (3–4): 367–380. Bibcode:1996E&PSL.142..367K. doi:10.1016/0012-821X(96)00109-4.
^Krijgsman, W.; Garcés, M.; Langereis, C. G.; Daams, R.; Van Dam, J.; Van Der Meulen, A. J.; Agustí, J.; Cabrera, L. (1996). "A new chronology for the middle to late Miocene continental record in Spain". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 142 (3–4): 367–380. Bibcode:1996E&PSL.142..367K. doi:10.1016/0012-821X(96)00109-4.
^Retallack, G. J. (1997). "Neogene Expansion of the North American Prairie". PALAIOS. 12 (4): 380–390. doi:10.2307/3515337. JSTOR 3515337. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
^Cunliffe, Sir Barry (2017-09-29). On the Ocean: The Mediterranean and the Atlantic from prehistory to AD 1500. Oxford University Press. p. 56. ISBN 978-0-19-107534-6. the remnant Tethys became joined to the Atlantic, roughly along the line of what was to become the Strait of Gibraltar. About 5.96 million years ago this gap closed, initiating what is known as the Messinian Salinity Crisis, which lasted for more than half a million years before the Atlantic was reunited once more with the Mediterranean.
^Gargani J.; Rigollet C. (2007). "Mediterranean Sea level variations during the Messinian Salinity Crisis". Geophysical Research Letters. 34 (10): L10405. Bibcode:2007GeoRL..3410405G. doi:10.1029/2007gl029885. S2CID 128771539.
The Messiniansalinitycrisis (also referred to as the Messinian event, and in its latest stage as the Lago Mare event) was a geological event during which...
completely desiccated over a period of some 600,000 years during the Messiniansalinitycrisis before being refilled by the Zanclean flood about 5.3 million...
North American Land Mammal Age. During the Messinian, around 6 million years ago, the Messiniansalinitycrisis took place, which brought about repeated...
Mediterranean Sea to nearly completely evaporate, in an event called the Messiniansalinitycrisis. The Strait of Gibraltar opened and the Mediterranean refilled...
Mediterranean Sea 5.33 million years ago. This flooding ended the Messiniansalinitycrisis and reconnected the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean, although...
(debated) episodes of sea drawdown and re-flooding known as the MessinianSalinityCrisis, which ended when the Atlantic last re-flooded the basin at the...
(the "MessinianSalinityCrisis"). As outlined in numerous studies, erosional events along the margins of the Mediterranean Basin during the Messinian timespan...
the Mediterranean Basin and end the Messinian salinitycrisis, a period about 5.96 Ma ago in the Messinian Age of the Miocene Epoch when the Mediterranean...
conjugate Angola/Gabon margins forming many salt domes. During the Messiniansalinitycrisis (Late Miocene), thick salt layers were formed as the Mediterranean...
arrived after the evaporation of the Mediterranean Sea during the MessinianSalinityCrisis. Myotragus is represented by six sequential chronospecies representing...
abundance of evidence that the Mediterranean Sea dried up during the MessinianSalinityCrisis when its level dropped by 2 to 3 miles (3.2 to 4.9 km) below the...
preceded by Zanclean Age The Miocene Epoch is subdivided into six ages: Messinian Age, preceded by Tortonian Age Serravallian Age Langhian Age Burdigalian...
years ago, at the beginning of the Zanclean age that ended the Messiniansalinitycrisis. The flood occurred when Atlantic waters found their way through...
Mediterranean area about 5.5 million years ago, around the time of the Messiniansalinitycrisis. The Laboratory of Aquaculture & Artemia Reference Center at Ghent...
after having previously nearly completely desiccated during the Messiniansalinitycrisis. The cliffs lie between two sandy beaches and are a limestone...
formations are from earlier sea level drops, most notably the Messiniansalinitycrisis. Similarly, karst developed in Apulia from the Apulian Carbonate...
been discovered within these sediments. During the late-Miocene Messiniansalinitycrisis, when the Mediterranean Sea was a closed basin and evaporated...
formation is linked to the Zanclean flood and the termination of the Messiniansalinitycrisis, when the Mediterranean was abruptly refilled through the Strait...
became a lake that, over the course of time, dried up during the Messiniansalinitycrisis. The Atlantic Ocean then broke through the Strait of Gibraltar...
L'Atalante basin. It was formed during the Messiniansalinitycrisis. Sonnenfeld, Peter; Finetti, Icilio (1985). Messinian Evaporites in the Mediterranean: A...
evidence for the ancient desiccation of the Mediterranean Sea, the Messiniansalinitycrisis. After being operated for fifteen years, Glomar Challenger's active...
tribe. c. 6 Ma – Australopithecines diversify. c. 5.96–5.33 Ma – MessinianSalinityCrisis: the precursor of the current Strait of Gibraltar closes repeatedly...
on Mallorca during the Early Pliocene, presumably due to the Messiniansalinitycrisis causing a connection with mainland Europe. They later spread to...
advance in glaciation, a marine regression, and the start of the Messiniansalinitycrisis in the Mediterranean basin. Some major regressions of the past...
originally colonised Mallorca during the Messinian stage of the Late Miocene, when during the Messiniansalinitycrisis (5.96–5.33 million years ago) the Mediterranean...
(million years ago). It follows the Serravallian and is followed by the Messinian. The Tortonian roughly overlaps with the regional Pannonian Stage of the...