Did you know...

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This legend re-told by Pliny is not too far from what scientists think actually happened here in the Straits of Gibraltar.

 

Six million years ago, plate tectonics had closed the Straits between Gibraltar and Morocco cutting the Mediterranean Sea off from the Atlantic. The enclosed sea then began to dry up through evaporation as the sea's water levels fell thousands of meters until all that was left was little shallow pools of very salty water.

 

Between 5.3 million to 3.6 million years ago shifting tectonic plates caused the water to rush back into the dried up Medditerranean basin at speed of up to 100 miles per hour causing a mile-high waterfall that filled up the entire sea in just a few short years. This is known as the Zanclean Mega Flood.