Re: dry Meditteranean

From: Paul Ciszek (nospam_at_nospam.com)
Date: 01/15/05 

Date: Sat, 15 Jan 2005 15:29:01 +0000 (UTC)

In article <1105793550.000353.151430@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com>,
 <chornedsnorkack@hushmail.com> wrote:
>
>In geologically short time, but not historically short time.
>
>IIRC, Mediterranean now receives about 30 000 cubic metres per second
>of fresh water by rain on the water surface, 8000 -"- by all rivers
>directly entering and 5000 -"- from the Black Sea. The evaporation is
>around 150 000 cubic metres per second, so 100 000 cubic metres per
>second is a shortfall.

Water flows from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean? How salty is the
Black Sea?

I ask because there is evidence that the Black Sea was once isolated,
then when sea level everywhere else rose at the end of the Ice Age,
the Black Sea suddenly filled from the Mediterranean through the
straight. If the Black Sea had had a surplus of water flow at that
time, it would have filled up the straight and flowed into the
Mediterranean on its own. I suppose that amounts of rainfall have
changed a lot since then, though.

>The shortfall is compensated by water entering from the Atlantic by
>Gibraltar Strait.

I guess I had assumed that the Black Sea was in the same situation
WRT the Mediterranean.

>Were the Gibraltar Strait suddenly closed again, the level of

Closed, or if the sea level of the rest of the ocean dropped below
the bottom of the straight of Gibraltar. How deep is it, and what
is the lowest sea level has dropped during glaciations?

>Mediterranean would start falling at about 1 metre per year. Which is
>about what happens to salt lakes, like Aral Sea or Mono Lake or Dead
>Sea if the rivers flowing in are suddenly diverted.
>
>And at 1 metre per year, well, the Mediterranean is about 5000 metres
>deep, so it cannot dry up faster than 5000 years. Which is why Mono
>Lake, Aral Sea and Dead Sea also still exist.

But how deep is it over most of its area? Within decades, all the
existing seaports will be out of business or will have had to make
radical adjustments. I expect that it would not take long for the
Mediterranean to shrink laterally. How long before Sicily becomes
part of the mainland again? 

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