Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Did Antarctic Glacier Growth Cause Messinian Salinity Crisis (aka Mediterranean Sea Drying up) ?


An international research team led by a scientist at New Zealand's University of Otago has resolved the mystery of the processes involved in the Mediterranean Sea drying up around 5.6 million years ago.

The event, known as the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC), saw the Mediterranean become a 1.5km deep basin for around 270,000 years. It also left a kilometers-deep layer of salt due to seawater evaporation.

The cause of the MSC has been the subject of vigorous scientific debate, but now an international team of researchers led by Otago geologist Dr Christian Ohneiser have used a multidisciplinary approach to solve the puzzle.

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