@opinionsonus: The Messinian Salinity Crisis was a dramatic geological event approximately 5.97 to 5.33 million years ago, during which the Mediterranean Sea underwent cycles of partial and near complete evaporation. Tectonic movements closed the Strait of Gibraltar, cutting off the link between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean. Evaporation left vast salt flats, until the strait broke open, unleashing a torrent of ocean water that refilled around 90% of the basin in just two years. #geology #map #maps #mediterranean