Around five million years ago, an extraordinary and dramatic event occurred when a massive flood filled the Mediterranean Sea.
As per Earth.com, unlike a regular flood, this was a huge surge of water that changed the landscape, turning a large salt desert into the Mediterranean Sea as we see it today.
The Zanclean Megaflood which occurred between 5.97 and 5.33 million years ago, was a massive flow of water that brought an end to the Messinian Salinity Crisis.
During the crisis, the Mediterranean Sea almost completely dried up, leaving large salt flats behind.
The researchers from around the world have found geological evidence in Southeast Sicily that confirms the occurrence of the Zanclean Megaflood.
As per the reports, before the flood, the Mediterranean Sea looked very different from how it does now.
During the Messinian Salinity Crisis, the Mediterranean was separated from the Atlantic Ocean, which caused it to dry up and become much smaller.
Due to lack of water supply, the sea began to evaporate in the extreme heat, leaving behind thick salt layers and turning it into a barren desert.
For a long time, the scientists, thought the sea refilled gradually over about 10,000 years.
The latest research, published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, revealed that it was a massive, catastrophic event of extraordinary size that drastically transformed the landscape of the Mediterranean in just a few years.
To understand the magnitude of the flood, the researchers estimate that the amount of water flow during the event was between 68 and 100 Sverdrups (Sv).
One Sv equals one million cubic meters of water flowing per second, illustrating how massive the flood was.
For comparison, all the rivers on Earth today combined discharge about one Sv of water.
However, the Zanclean Megaflood involved a flow of water much larger than anything ever recorded in history.
As per the outlet, the flood’s force was so powerful that it carved deep channels, wore down silk rock and moved large amounts of sediment in the region.
