MOROPUS Posted February 17, 2010 Share Posted February 17, 2010 Watch it here! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamalama Posted February 17, 2010 Share Posted February 17, 2010 Interesting, I didn't think the Mediterranean had ever been cut off but that it would be in the future. -Dave __________________________________________________ Geologists on the whole are inconsistent drivers. When a roadcut presents itself, they tend to lurch and weave. To them, the roadcut is a portal, a fragment of a regional story, a proscenium arch that leads their imaginations into the earth and through the surrounding terrain. - John McPheeIf I'm going to drive safely, I can't do geology. - John McPheeCheck out my Blog for more fossils I've found: http://viewsofthemahantango.blogspot.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MOROPUS Posted February 17, 2010 Author Share Posted February 17, 2010 This has happened, if I can remember, at least 5 times during the late and mid Tertiary (specially during Miocene). That`s why under the sea bed, enourmous amounts of halite are found, and some African mammals are found in Europe at this time. It is quite difficult for this to happened again, due to the fact that European plate is splitting from African plate more; in fact, Mediterranean sea might be swallowed by Atlantic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boesse Posted February 17, 2010 Share Posted February 17, 2010 Moropus is right - it's been referred to as the Messinian Salinity Crisis - there is evidence that a species of the sirenian Metaxytherium dwarfed in a small remaining portion of the Mediterranean due to the Messinian S.C. Bobby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamalama Posted February 18, 2010 Share Posted February 18, 2010 It is quite difficult for this to happened again, due to the fact that European plate is splitting from African plate more; in fact, Mediterranean sea might be swallowed by Atlantic. Ok, I have to ask where you found the information that Europe is splitting from Africa? Every plate tectonic simulation or projection that I have seen has Africa fusing with Europe. I realize that the Red Sea is a branch of same rift system that is creating the East African Rift valley and the Gulf of Aden, but I don't think that is going to stop the rest of the continent from heading north. Boesse - Thank Bobby, Can you or Moropus suggest any good literature that would explain the past and future of the Mediterranean? -Dave __________________________________________________ Geologists on the whole are inconsistent drivers. When a roadcut presents itself, they tend to lurch and weave. To them, the roadcut is a portal, a fragment of a regional story, a proscenium arch that leads their imaginations into the earth and through the surrounding terrain. - John McPheeIf I'm going to drive safely, I can't do geology. - John McPheeCheck out my Blog for more fossils I've found: http://viewsofthemahantango.blogspot.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashcraft Posted February 18, 2010 Share Posted February 18, 2010 (edited) Boesse - Thank Bobby, Can you or Moropus suggest any good literature that would explain the past and future of the Mediterranean? There is a book that I read that covers mammal evolution in Europe, that covers some of it as I recall. Named Mammoths, Sabertooths and Hominids: 65 Million Years of Mammalian Evolution in Europe (Hardback) By (author) Jordi Agusti, B Brent Ashcraft Edited February 18, 2010 by ashcraft ashcraft, brent allen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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