December 03, 2024
Mediterranean Evaporated During the Miocene
Timothy Birdnow
70% of the Mediterranean sea evaporated into thin air 5.5 million years ago in a disappearing act not seen since Al Gore lost the 2000 election.
FTA:
The Miocene Climate Optimum was warmer than now - significantly. Depending on where you look it was between 4 and 8 degrees warmer Centigrade. That comes as no surprise; with all that water in the atmosphere from the Mediterranean, coupled with increased plate tectonics pouring heat out through volcanic action, one would expect a warmer world.
The Gang Green likes to blame it on atmospheric carbon dioxide which stood at 500 ppm,but that was, in my view, a result of the warming, not the cause. These high levels of carbon dioxide only rose to that level at the very middle of the Miocene, not the beginning. (Yes, the earlier Oligocene was even higher peaking midway throough at 680 ppm,but it had dropped well below that by the beginning of the Miocene. By the beginning of the Miocene it was down to 420, just barely higher than today.
The Oligocene was relatively cool until the latter days I might add.
The fact is there is much that does not work out in the geological record for the Global Warming crowd.
70% of the Mediterranean sea evaporated into thin air 5.5 million years ago in a disappearing act not seen since Al Gore lost the 2000 election.
FTA:
The extreme evaporation event actually happened in two phases, according to the international team behind the new study.
By analyzing chlorine isotopes in the salt deposited on the seabed, and building numerical models and simulations, the researchers were able to chart when, where, and how 70 percent of the Mediterranean's water was lost.
The first phase covered 35,000 years of restricted water flow between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean, via what is now the Strait of Gibraltar.
As the seawater wasn't getting refreshed with freshwater, that restriction sped up the deposit of salts and water evaporation in the Mediterranean.
Mediterranean chart
The evaporation event affected the two sides of the Med differently. (Aloisi et al., Nature Communications, 2024)
In the second phase, across the next 10,000 years, the Mediterranean Sea was completely isolated, and the whole process accelerated.
The researchers, led by Earth system scientist Giovanni Aloisi from the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), found that in some areas, water levels would have dropped by as much as 2.1 kilometers (1.3 miles).
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As the water receded in phase 2, the underwater ridge across the Strait of Sicily would've become exposed, the team suggests – effectively splitting the Mediterranean Sea in two and forming a land bridge between Africa and Europe.
That in turn led to faster rates of evaporation in the eastern Mediterranean, where the biggest drops in sea level would have been – and most salt deposits were found across both of these phases.
Scientists have long debated how the MSC came about, and whether or not it happened when the Mediterranean was fully cut off from the Atlantic. This new study suggests both schools of thought are right – that it was a two-phase process.
The researchers don't dive deeply into why the Mediterranean became isolated, but the late Miocene was a time of extensive, dramatic tectonic activity. The MSC itself would've caused even more tumult, as pressure lifted on the surface crust, and surrounding areas dried out.
"The huge size of the Mediterranean depression created by MSC water level drawdown – corresponding to a volume loss of 69 percent of the Mediterranean water body – would have generated planetary-scale climate effects, inducing changes in precipitation patterns, a scenario suggested by rainfall proxy data," write the authors in their published paper.
Today, the Strait of Gibraltar is much wider and deeper than it was during phase 1 of the MSC. If it wasn't for this connection to the Atlantic Ocean, it's estimated that today the sea level of the Mediterranean would be dropping by about half a meter (nearly 20 inches) every year.
By analyzing chlorine isotopes in the salt deposited on the seabed, and building numerical models and simulations, the researchers were able to chart when, where, and how 70 percent of the Mediterranean's water was lost.
The first phase covered 35,000 years of restricted water flow between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean, via what is now the Strait of Gibraltar.
As the seawater wasn't getting refreshed with freshwater, that restriction sped up the deposit of salts and water evaporation in the Mediterranean.
Mediterranean chart
The evaporation event affected the two sides of the Med differently. (Aloisi et al., Nature Communications, 2024)
In the second phase, across the next 10,000 years, the Mediterranean Sea was completely isolated, and the whole process accelerated.
The researchers, led by Earth system scientist Giovanni Aloisi from the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), found that in some areas, water levels would have dropped by as much as 2.1 kilometers (1.3 miles).
Advertisement
Advertisement
As the water receded in phase 2, the underwater ridge across the Strait of Sicily would've become exposed, the team suggests – effectively splitting the Mediterranean Sea in two and forming a land bridge between Africa and Europe.
That in turn led to faster rates of evaporation in the eastern Mediterranean, where the biggest drops in sea level would have been – and most salt deposits were found across both of these phases.
Scientists have long debated how the MSC came about, and whether or not it happened when the Mediterranean was fully cut off from the Atlantic. This new study suggests both schools of thought are right – that it was a two-phase process.
The researchers don't dive deeply into why the Mediterranean became isolated, but the late Miocene was a time of extensive, dramatic tectonic activity. The MSC itself would've caused even more tumult, as pressure lifted on the surface crust, and surrounding areas dried out.
"The huge size of the Mediterranean depression created by MSC water level drawdown – corresponding to a volume loss of 69 percent of the Mediterranean water body – would have generated planetary-scale climate effects, inducing changes in precipitation patterns, a scenario suggested by rainfall proxy data," write the authors in their published paper.
Today, the Strait of Gibraltar is much wider and deeper than it was during phase 1 of the MSC. If it wasn't for this connection to the Atlantic Ocean, it's estimated that today the sea level of the Mediterranean would be dropping by about half a meter (nearly 20 inches) every year.
The Miocene Climate Optimum was warmer than now - significantly. Depending on where you look it was between 4 and 8 degrees warmer Centigrade. That comes as no surprise; with all that water in the atmosphere from the Mediterranean, coupled with increased plate tectonics pouring heat out through volcanic action, one would expect a warmer world.
The Gang Green likes to blame it on atmospheric carbon dioxide which stood at 500 ppm,but that was, in my view, a result of the warming, not the cause. These high levels of carbon dioxide only rose to that level at the very middle of the Miocene, not the beginning. (Yes, the earlier Oligocene was even higher peaking midway throough at 680 ppm,but it had dropped well below that by the beginning of the Miocene. By the beginning of the Miocene it was down to 420, just barely higher than today.
The Oligocene was relatively cool until the latter days I might add.
The fact is there is much that does not work out in the geological record for the Global Warming crowd.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
12:50 PM
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1
Could Gibraltar be the lost city of Atlantis hidden in plain sight? Amazing how many face lifts this planet has gone thru in its short existence and how many civilizations came and went.
Posted by: Mike at December 03, 2024 10:06 PM (It6eH)
2
Some of the TV shows we've watched recently suggest that Atlantis was indeed found in that area, though not exactly in Gibraltar.
Posted by: Dana Mathewson at December 03, 2024 11:33 PM (GbRjY)
3
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Posted by: Ninja at December 04, 2024 12:49 AM (CR2U1)
4
Could be Mike, though not during the Miocene.
Our only historical data on it comes from Plato, who said it was beyond Gibralter, although he could have been wrong. Irather suspect he was in the wrong part of the world; I suspect he was speaking about either the formation of the Black Sea (which swallowed a lively civilization that existed on the shores of a lake much smaller than the current sea) or about the island of Thera. Either way they are long gone.
Our only historical data on it comes from Plato, who said it was beyond Gibralter, although he could have been wrong. Irather suspect he was in the wrong part of the world; I suspect he was speaking about either the formation of the Black Sea (which swallowed a lively civilization that existed on the shores of a lake much smaller than the current sea) or about the island of Thera. Either way they are long gone.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at December 04, 2024 08:44 AM (22o5K)
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