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Zanclean Flood: The Refilling of the Mediterranean

Super Freaky Science!

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6 million years ago, the Mediterranean looked a lot different than it does today. The water had almost completely evaporated, and what was left was a dry salty desert basin. This period of dryness for the Med didn't last long and was bound to end with one of the most dramatic events in Earth's history.

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Produced and hosted by Kyle Bales

0:00 Intro
0:34 Mediterranean Desert
2:52 The Gibraltar Land Bridge
4:38 The Breach & Erosion
6:33 The Scale of Inundation
8:32 The Eastern Front
10:15 Ecological and Climatic Shock
12:02 The Evidence Today & Future Cycles

20 Comments

@st-ex8506 4 months ago (edited)

You must realize that the Mediterranean did not evaporate once, but dozens if not hundreds of times during the so-called Messinian period. If it had evaporated only once, the layer of salt at the bottom would be about 16m thick, but it is 1000-2000m thick in some places!

@BobHill-s2c 4 months ago

Dude: Thousand years for a sea to disappear is insanely fast.
USSR: Hold my beer.

@thefurbeastunderyourbed5012 4 months ago

Well, I'm glad it refilled. Dramatically increases my holiday experience.

@xyris1208 4 months ago

I come from Messina, those sediments you've shown are something like 500 meters west of my house. There are huge deposits of those rocks all in the surroundings and we've used them for centuries for buildings. Inside the blocks of the ancient buildings that are still standing after the earthquake of 1908 you can still see the individual fossils that were calcified in the stone.

@VkmSpouge 3 months ago

I suspect that if the land bridge were to re-appear tomorrow most Mediterranean nations would be very quick to blow it up as the impact on trade would be terrible.

@adscomics 3 months ago

The zanclean flood is probably my favorite piece of geologic history.

@studiosraufncingr6965 4 months ago

5:55
Thousands of kilometers deep? Something is not right here

@gumnaamaadmi007 4 months ago

5:59 thousands of METRES deep, you mean.

@calogerohuygens4430 4 months ago (edited)

At 2:29 you are pointing to Taouromeniun (Taormina, popular touristic site), 50km far south of real Messina, who lays on strait between Sicily and Calabria. You can clearly see "Messana" written on corner.

@kateofone 4 months ago

I honestly can’t mentally process how powerful this flood was.

@skapunker1986 3 months ago

Herman Sörgel's "Atlantropa" always facinated me.

@MrKurtank 3 months ago

Julian May, 'The Saga of the Exiles' has a great explanation for the Zanclean Flood

@monkeyzone4562 3 months ago

Poseidon was in his teenage angst years

@dominiccottrill2387 4 months ago

"The salty crust" is name name of the profanity laced opening track.

@alexritchie4586 3 months ago

Pretty interesting to see on the relief map how shallow the Tyrrhenian Sea is compared to the rest of the Mediterranean.

@retiredtom1654 4 months ago

I have heard about the Med's loss of water, then the refill, but I had no idea it would have changed the global sea level by 9 meters.

@binge444 4 months ago

One of the differences between AI and a human delivery is that AI is not able to show enthusiasm and awe, like your host is able to. He adds to the presentation. Well done.