Roveri Marco, Lugli Stefano, Manzi Vinicio
Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences, and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma, Parma, Italy; email:
Department of Chemical and Geological Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy; email:
Ann Rev Mar Sci. 2025 Jan;17(1):485-509. doi: 10.1146/annurev-marine-021723-110155. Epub 2024 Nov 25.
According to some authors, the Messinian salinity crisis was ended by a giant waterfall or megaflood 5.33 million years ago, when the Atlantic Ocean reconnected in a catastrophic way with the desiccated Mediterranean, creating the Strait of Gibraltar. An erosional surface deeply cutting upper Miocene or older rocks and sealed by lower Pliocene sediments is the geological feature that inspired this fascinating hypothesis. The hypothesis, which recalls several ancient myths, is well established in the scientific community and often considered to be a fact. However, several studies are suggesting that the Atlantic-Mediterranean connection through the Strait of Gibraltar was probably active before and during the entire Messinian salinity crisis. This allows us to consider the possibility that long-lived, more gradual physical processes were responsible for the evolution of the strait, opening the idea of a nondesiccated Mediterranean Sea.
据一些作者称，墨西拿盐度危机在533万年前因一场巨大的瀑布或大洪水而结束，当时大西洋以灾难性的方式与干涸的地中海重新连通，形成了直布罗陀海峡。一个深切上中新世或更古老岩石并被上新世下部沉积物封闭的侵蚀面是激发这一迷人假说的地质特征。该假说让人想起几个古老的神话，在科学界已得到充分确立，且常被视为事实。然而，一些研究表明，在整个墨西拿盐度危机之前及期间，通过直布罗陀海峡的大西洋-地中海连通可能一直存在活动。这使我们能够考虑这样一种可能性，即长期存在的、更为渐进的物理过程导致了海峡的演变，从而开启了地中海未干涸的观点。
