Geological Survey of Israel (GSI) study announced on the 5th
The Mediterranean Sea was created due to drying of sea water and salinity crisis.
The Israel Geological Survey announced on the 4th (local time) that Israeli geologists discovered a huge underwater canyon on the bottom of the Eastern Mediterranean that was formed about 6 million years ago.
The canyon is located in the deep waters of the Levant submarine basin near the Eratothenes submarine mountain range, an Israeli oil field in the eastern Mediterranean. It is 250 km northwest of the west coast of Israel and 120 km south of Cyprus.
According to an announcement by GSI, which is part of the Israeli government’s Ministry of Energy, the newly discovered submarine canyon is 10 km wide and 0.5 km deep, and was found to have originated in the Messinian geographical era, Xinhua News Agency and others reported.
Israeli researchers revealed that the canyon began forming 6 million years ago during the Messinian salinity crisis (MSC). During the Messinian Crisis, the Strait of Gibraltar in the Mediterranean Sea closed and became a lake, resulting in a 6% decrease in global ocean salinity.
GSI explained that at that time, as the Earth’s gravity and tidal activity became more active in the Mediterranean, erosion of the eastern Mediterranean sea floor became more severe, forming a deep canyon.
Israeli scientists said that the study sheds light on environmental conditions in which salinity had already increased in low-lying seabed areas before the Mediterranean salinity crisis reached its peak.
At that time, as the salinity crisis continued in the Mediterranean until 5.6 million years ago, the sea water became dry and eventually the Mediterranean Sea remained in the land, separated from other seas of the world, and a salt layer almost 1 km thick was formed due to the evaporation of sea water.
Israel has succeeded in drilling and developing underwater oil fields in the Eastern Mediterranean in recent years and has focused on development and research in these waters.
Source: Donga
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