According to the PG NEWS portal, for a long time the hypothesis that dominated the scientific community was that about 5-6 million years ago, the Mediterranean Sea almost completely disappeared, then was quickly flooded by the Atlantic Ocean due to a major flood. However, recent research questions the extent of the drought and the reality of such a catastrophic event.
The starting point of the traditional model was data collected during the Glomar Challenger mission in 1970. When drilling the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, dense horizons of volatiles – gypsum and halite were found. They are interpreted as evidence that the sea was almost completely dry during the Messinian salinity crisis. Then, according to this version, the Atlantic Ocean flooded the territory of present-day Gibraltar, causing a huge flood.
This concept has long been considered a classic. But the latest findings point to a more complicated story. Some scientists believe that the sea did not disappear completely but retained a connection to the Atlantic Ocean, at least in the form of limited currents. In their opinion, the formation of volatiles occurs underwater due to salt water concentration without the need to completely dry the pool.
Analysis of salt layers in Sicily further raised suspicions. The cyclic structure of these sediments suggests repeated episodes of marine isolation and reconnection with external water masses, caused by fluctuations in climate and sea level. This picture contradicts the idea of single large drying.
Hopes of a major flood across Gibraltar are also waning. New studies in the Alboran Sea, carried out using deep-sea vehicles, found no convincing evidence of strong flooding. Furthermore, the data show no evidence of a global sea-level decline, which would necessarily occur as huge amounts of water are transferred from one basin to another.
