Zanclean flood

The Zanclean flood is a catastrophic flood that refilled the Mediterranean Sea more than five million years ago. The flood occurred when Atlantic waters found their way into the cut-off and desiccated Mediterranean basin. Researchers say that a 200km channel across the Gibraltar strait was carved out by the floodwaters.

The virtually synchronous character, according to the stratigraphic resolution offered by cyclostratigraphy, of the facies change at the base of the Pliocene has been demonstrated by detailed studies (Iaccarino et al. 1999), supporting the idea of a sudden, nearly catastrophic re-establishment of the ocean connections. However, for many even historical sections, modern bio- and magnetostratigraphic studies are not available yet and this doesn’t allow to rule out the possibility that in some basins or part of them the marine flooding could have been delayed or even anticipated, as hypothetically suggested by Roveri and Manzi (2006). The bio- and magnetostratigraphic events occurring at this boundary allow in any case to define with great accuracy this time line throughout the Mediterranean basin, thus making it possible the evaluation of local discrepancies.