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Article: Mediterranean's desert years subject of geologic debate.
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- May 25, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Robert S. Boyd
WASHINGTON _ Scientists are working to explain one of the most spectacular events in Earth's history _ the time when the Mediterranean Sea dried up almost 6 million years ago and remained a desert for hundreds of thousands of years.
Geologists offer various, conflicting theories to account for the closing of the narrow passages between Spain and North Africa, where the Strait of Gibraltar lies. The blockage cut the Mediterranean off from the Atlantic Ocean and turned its sparkling blue waters into a huge basin of salt, far below sea level.
William Ryan, co-chief of the 1970 scientific expedition that first discovered the ...