Скачать или смотреть When Mediterranean Sea Disappeared for 400,000 Years — The Messinian Salinity Crisis | For Sleep

At one point in Earth’s past, the Mediterranean wasn’t a sea at all — it became a vast, dry basin stretching far below the level of the world’s oceans.

This video explores the Messinian Salinity Crisis, a period when the connection between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean closed, cutting off the flow of water and allowing evaporation to outpace refilling. We look at how thick layers of salt formed on the seafloor, how rivers carved deep canyons as they flowed toward a shrinking basin, and how plants and animals were forced to adapt to a landscape that was turning into something closer to a desert than a sea.

The focus stays on physical evidence. Rock layers, seismic scans beneath the modern seabed, fossil remains, and chemical signatures all help scientists reconstruct what happened during those 400,000 years when one of the world’s largest seas nearly vanished.

Rather than moving quickly through the event, the documentary follows the slow process — the narrowing of ocean gateways, the steady drop in water levels, and the eventual refilling that restored the Mediterranean in a dramatic geological moment.

If you feel like sharing, you’re always welcome to mention where you’re watching from and what time it is there. It’s a small contrast to a time when an entire sea quietly disappeared.

Rest when you’re ready,
and let the ancient basin and its long return fade gently into the night.