What would happen if humans dried out the Mediterranean sea, turning it into a giant salt lake? Would its wildlife survive, and if so, how long would it take to recover? Map of Herman Sörgel’s ...

Scientists have long sought to understand an unusual climactic and geological event known as the Messinian Salinity Crisis. During this ecological catastrophe, which occurred around 5.97 to 5.33 ...

Marine sediments hosting abundant fossils dated in the Late Miocene, from about 8 to 7 million years ago. Fish otoliths, bivalve and gastropod shells, bryozoans and microscopic shells attest to the ...

Scientists have identified two phases of the Messinian Salinity Crisis that transformed the Mediterranean into a massive salt basin 5 million years ago. Analysis of chlorine isotopes reveals drastic ...

Artistic representation of the breach of the Gibraltar sill at the end of the Messinian salinity crisis. In the final moments of this crisis, the level of the Mediterranean Sea was around one ...

Lori Dengler takes a dive into the Strait of Gibraltar.

A meta-analysis of Mediterranean Sea marine species reveals the profound impact of the Messinian Salinity Crisis – a drastic environmental event that resulted in the almost complete evaporation of the ...

Researchers have shown that the salinity of sea water could act as a "barrier", preventing the turtles from moving between the areas of the Western Mediterranean. This is why loggerhead turtles from ...

A new study paves the way to understanding biotic recovery after an ecological crisis in the Mediterranean Sea about 5.5 million years ago. Researchers have now been able to quantify how marine biota ...