Clues from the Dead Sea could explain ancient drying of the Mediterranean

Check your subscription status, update your details and more. Clues from the Dead Sea could explain ancient drying of the Mediterranean The high salt concentration in the Dead Sea drives the warming and shrinking of the lake, and something similar may have happened in the Mediterranean 5.5 million years ago Around 5.5 million years ago, the Mediterranean Sea almost entirely dried up, leaving behind deposits of salt of up to 3 kilometres thick known as salt giants. What drove this event is debated, but a study of the super-salty Dead Sea offers some new clues.

Scientists agree that the so-called Messinian salinity crisis was caused by a diminished flow of water from the Atlantic into the Mediterranean, which meant that evaporated water wasn’t replaced. But scientists argue about important aspects, such as whether the flow was completely cut off. Receive a weekly dose of discovery in your inbox.

We'll also keep you up to date with _New Scientist_ events and special offers. #### Earth ### Towering structures in Earth’s depths may be billions of years old News #### Earth ### We may have solved the mystery of what froze Earth’s inner core News #### Earth ### These rocks are probably the last remains of Earth’s early crust News #### Earth ### Huge hot blobs inside Earth may have made its magnetic field wonky News Satellites show some of the strongest evidence the AMOC is weakening### What are microchimeric cells doing to our brain?### Your brain’s unexpected ability to regenerate and how to harness it### The collapse of the AMOC would be catastrophic. How will we know when it’s coming?### Wind turbines have killed 19 million bats in 40 years in the US### Robotic dog controlled with a computer powered by human blood cells### Vaccines could be about to revolutionise acne treatments### The world’s first spinal cord transplant has been performed in Russia### Terence Tao’s Six Maths Essentials opens his field to all of us### Major greenhouse gases rise again to record levels We and our partners use cookies and other technologies to collect user data .