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Mediterranean Might Have Filled In Months

Posted by kdawson on from the white-water-to-die-for dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A new model suggests that the Mediterranean Sea was filled in a gigantic flood some 5.3 million years ago. According to Daniel Garcia-Castellanos' paper in Nature, the sill at the Straight of Gibraltar gave way rather suddenly, with 40 cm of rock eroding and the water level rising by 10 m per day at its peak. They imagine a shallow, fast-moving stream of water (around 100 km/hr) several kilometers wide pouring into the basin with a flow greater than a thousand Amazon rivers — that's about 100,000,000 cubic meters per second." The flood would have dropped worldwide sea levels by 9.5 meters, probably triggering climate changes. In this model the Mediterranean filled in anywhere from a few months to two years at the outside.

18 of 224 comments (clear)

  1. Roland Emmerich by assemblerex · · Score: 5, Funny

    just had an orgasm.

    1. Re:Roland Emmerich by Opportunist · · Score: 5, Funny

      And that filled the Mediterrean? Might explain the water quality...

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    2. Re:Roland Emmerich by andreyvul · · Score: 2, Funny

      Because they're too attached to the preproccessorex and compilerex.

      --
      proud caffeine whore
  2. 5 million? by ravenspear · · Score: 4, Funny

    Are you sure that flood didn't happen 5 thousand years ago?

    1. Re:5 million? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Are you sure that flood didn't happen 5 thousand years ago?

      This man is right. Read all about it right here: http://conservapedia.com/Great_Flood

    2. Re:5 million? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Me personally, I would have *loved* to have been born BC. That way, we count down our age, and your friends would greet you with, 'You're looking younger; how *do* you manage it' with each birthday!

    3. Re:5 million? by m.ducharme · · Score: 4, Funny

      You must be a hit at parties.

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      Rule of Slashdot #0: You and people like you are not representative of the larger population. - A.C.
  3. Video please? by gmhowell · · Score: 3, Funny

    This story would be much cooler with a video clip.

    --
    Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
    1. Re:Video please? by Opportunist · · Score: 1, Funny

      Pix or didn't happen.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  4. Re:Yet another great /. science discussion kicks o by oGMo · · Score: 4, Funny

    Why something as deep as the Mediterranean was dry instead of a lake in the first place.

    Well, before that, it was a lake. Where do you think the aliens stole all the water from?! It was freshwater then, of course. Sadly the Sahara Forest never recovered.

    ;-)

    --

    Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage

  5. Re:Geo-engineering by houghi · · Score: 3, Funny

    I will help you. The dead sea is already such a big hole in the earth. So just let it stream in there. As it also will flood the most troublesome part of the middle east, that is yet another problem solved.

    --
    Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
  6. Re:Geo-engineering by Hurricane78 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I am intrigued and invite you to join our Evil Overlords World Domination Club.

    Our plan is evil. Man, it is so evil!
    It is a bad, bad plan, that will hurt many people that are good!
    I think it’s great, because it’s so bad!

    Prerequisites to enter:
    - An evil lair (preferably under a volcano).
    - At least 100 minions (get the starter pack today!) or 10 lifeforms with super-powers.
    - Super-secret secret super-weapon.
    - Read the club rules.
    - And most importantly: An evilness of at least 10,000 on the trough-the-roof Schwarzschild scale!

    We also have a dress code. But as long as you look really evil, you’re welcome. :)

    --
    Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
  7. In MONTHS? by Huzzah! · · Score: 3, Funny

    Noah shit??

  8. Climate change!!?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    "The flood would have dropped worldwide sea levels by 9.5 meters, probably triggering climate changes."

    OMG, something MUST be done to revert the planet to it's pre-Mediterranean-Sea-filling pristine state, or you will all rot in Al Gore's climate Purgatory!

  9. Documentation by DoofusOfDeath · · Score: 3, Funny

    They imagine a shallow, fast-moving stream of water (around 100 km/hr)

    And you just know there are cave drawings somewhere showing jackasses trying to body surf in it.

  10. Re:How do you think stories got started? by gtall · · Score: 2, Funny

    The Easter Bunny, for example.

  11. Re:Geo-engineering by Hurricane78 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Wow, is the site really gone? Wait, here are the new club rules:
    http://www.eviloverlord.com/lists/overlord.html

    --
    Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
  12. "Straight" of Gibraltar by ranson · · Score: 3, Funny

    According to Daniel Garcia-Castellanos' paper in Nature, the sill at the Straight of Gibraltar gave way rather suddenly, with 40 cm of rock eroding and the water level rising by 10 m per day at its peak.

    I'm relieved to know the Strait of Gibraltar is not gay; I was convinced he was hitting on me the other day.