rekordy: Mediterranean Sea

Evidence: 100 • authority: 72

The Mediterranean Sea ( MED-ih-tə-RAY-nee-ən) is an intercontinental sea situated between Europe, Asia, and Africa. It is surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Europe, and on the south by North Africa. To its west it is connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Strait of Gibraltar that separates the Iberian Peninsula in Europe from Morocco in Africa by only 14 km (9 mi); additionally, it is connected to the Black Sea through the Bosporus strait that intersects Turkey in the northeast and the Red Sea via the Suez Canal in the southeast. The Mediterranean Sea covers…

Evidence: 45 • authority: 72

The Strait of Gibraltar, also known as the Straits of Gibraltar, is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Europe from Africa. The two continents are separated by 7.7 nautical miles (14.2 kilometers, 8.9 statute miles) at its narrowest point. Ferries cross between the two continents every day in as little as 35 minutes. The Strait's depth ranges between 300 and 900 metres (980 and 2,950 feet; 160 and 490 fathoms). The strait lies in the territorial waters of Morocco, Spain, and the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, foreign vessels and aircraft have the freedom of navigation and…

Evidence: 38 • authority: 92

The Desiccation and Catastrophic Refilling of the Mediterranean: 50 Years of Facts, Hypotheses, and Myths Around the Messinian Salinity Crisis.. 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…

Evidence: 38 • authority: 92

Details on the transport of European eel larvae through the Strait of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean Sea.. Numbers of European glass eels (Anguilla anguilla) monitored along the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts of Europe currently serve as the main stock indicator in assessment of this critically endangered species. Spawning, however, takes place exclusively in the Sargasso Sea, several thousand kilometers away. The beginning of its complex lifecycle is characterized by a distant and lengthy larval drift, before the young-of-the-year reach the monitoring stations at the European coasts. The oceanic mechanisms regulating dispersal and distribution of European eel leptocephalus larvae, bef…

Evidence: 38 • authority: 72

The Zanclean flood, or Zanclean deluge, is theorized to have refilled the Mediterranean Sea 5.33 million years ago. This flooding ended the Messinian salinity crisis and reconnected the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean, although it is possible that even before the flood there were partial connections to the Atlantic Ocean. The re-connection marks the beginning of the Zanclean age, the earliest age on the geologic time scale of the Pliocene. According to this model, water from the Atlantic Ocean refilled the dried-up basin through the modern-day Strait of Gibraltar. Ninety percent of the Mediterranean Basin flooding occurred abruptly during a period estimated to have been between seve…

Evidence: 34 • authority: 72

The Black Sea is a marginal sea located between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bordered by Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine. The Black Sea is supplied by major rivers, principally the Danube, Dnieper and Dniester. Consequently, while six countries have a coastline on the sea, its drainage basin includes parts of 24 countries in Europe. The Black Sea, not including the Sea of Azov, covers 436,400 km2 (168,500 sq mi), has a maximum depth of 2,212 m (7,257 ft), and a volume of 547,000 km3 (131,000 cu mi). Most of its coasts ascend rapidly. These rises are the Pontic Mountains to t…

Evidence: 33 • authority: 88

Atlantic to Mediterranean Sea Level Difference Driven by Winds near Gibraltar Strait. Abstract Observations and numerical simulations show that winds near Gibraltar Strait cause an Atlantic Ocean to Mediterranean Sea sea level difference of 20 cm peak to peak with a 3-cm standard deviation for periods of days to years. Theoretical arguments and numerical experiments establish that this wind-driven sea level difference is caused in part by storm surges due to alongshore winds near the North African coastline on the Atlantic side of Gibraltar. The fraction of the Moroccan coastal current offshore of the 284-m isobath is deflected across Gibraltar Strait, west of Camarinal Sill, resulting in a…

Evidence: 33 • authority: 80

Assessing trace elements in striped dolphins from the Strait of Gibraltar: Clues to link the bioaccumulation in the westernmost Mediterranean Sea area and nearest Atlantic Ocean

Evidence: 27 • authority: 88

The Mediterranean Outflow in the Strait of Gibraltar and its connection with upstream conditions in the Alborán Sea. Abstract. The present study addresses the hypothesis that the Western Alborán Gyre in the Alborán Sea (the westernmost Mediterranean basin adjacent to the Strait of Gibraltar) influences the composition of the outflow through the Strait of Gibraltar. The process invoked is that strong and well-developed gyres help to evacuate the Western Mediterranean Deep Water from the Alborán basin, thus increasing its presence in the outflow, whereas weak gyres facilitates the outflow of Levantine and other Intermediate waters. To this aim, in situ observations collected at Camarinal (the…

Evidence: 27 • authority: 88

The Mediterranean outflow in the Strait of Gibraltar and its connection with upstream conditions in the Alborán Sea. Abstract. The present study addresses the hypothesis that the Western Alborán Gyre in the Alborán Sea (the westernmost Mediterranean basin adjacent to the Strait of Gibraltar) influences the composition of the outflow through the Strait of Gibraltar. The process invoked is that strong and well-developed gyres help to evacuate the Western Mediterranean Deep Water from the Alborán basin, thus increasing its presence in the outflow, whereas weak gyres facilitate the outflow of Levantine and other intermediate waters. To this aim, in situ observations collected at the Camarinal (…

Evidence: 27 • authority: 72

The Messinian salinity crisis (also referred to as the Messinian event, and in its latest stage as the Lago Mare event) was an event in which the Mediterranean Sea dried up, in a cycle of partial or nearly complete desiccation throughout the latter part of the Messinian age of the Miocene epoch, from 5.96 to 5.33 Ma (million years ago). It ended with the Zanclean flood, when the Atlantic reclaimed the basin. Sediment samples from below the deep seafloor of the Mediterranean Sea, which include evaporite minerals, soils, and fossil plants, show that the precursor of the Strait of Gibraltar closed about 5.96 million years ago, sealing the Mediterranean off from the Atlantic. This resulted in a…

Evidence: 24 • authority: 88