- 6 weeks ago
A massive ancient flood once rushed across the planet with such force that it reshaped coastlines, carved valleys, and permanently altered Earth’s geography. Scientists believe that the Mediterranean Sea as we know it was formed when the Atlantic Ocean broke through the Strait of Gibraltar, triggering a gigantic waterfall unlike anything seen today. This cataclysmic event, known as the Zanclean Flood, may have filled the entire Mediterranean Basin in just a few years, creating roaring currents and walls of water hundreds of meters high. Geological evidence shows deep erosion, collapsed landscapes, and sudden sediment deposits that reveal how fast and violent this global transformation really was. And in this video, you’ll discover how this unbelievable flood shaped continents, ecosystems, and human history in ways we’re only beginning to understand. Animation is created by Bright Side.
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Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV
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For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me
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This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.
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00:00Around 5.3 million years ago, a crucial event reshaped the Mediterranean region.
00:06It was a colossal flood that refilled the local sea, which had been extremely barren and salty up until that point.
00:14It got the name Zanclin Flood, and it forever changed the geography of the area.
00:20The Mediterranean Sea is surrounded by Europe, Africa, and Asia, and connects to the ocean by the Strait of Gibraltar.
00:26This is quite a narrow passage, measuring about 8 miles.
00:30It may not be that wide, but the Strait plays a crucial role in maintaining the liquid balance between these two bodies of water.
00:38About 6 million years ago, a bunch of things might have caused the Mediterranean to be cut off from the Atlantic Ocean.
00:45Some say it was an ice age. Others speak of tectonic movements, like earthquakes.
00:49Whatever the cause, it pushed the Mediterranean area into a period called the Mycenaean Salinity Crisis.
00:56For about 1,000 years, the sea slowly evaporated, leaving behind a dry basin that was several miles below sea level.
01:04This crisis really changed the landscape, creating conditions similar to those found in today's Dead Sea.
01:10What this means is that the lush Mediterranean beauty used to be a super salty environment, containing nearly 10 times more salt than the ocean.
01:20Say you could have visited.
01:22You would have been able to effortlessly float on the little water you could find, even if you're not a skilled swimmer.
01:28The amount of salt and that mineral content would have made it challenging for most creatures to survive.
01:35However, some hardy microorganisms, such as bacteria, could have adapted to these harsh conditions.
01:41These days, at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, we can find holes as large as the Grand Canyon,
01:47and they seem to have formed during that same period of dehydration.
01:50Evidence suggests that massive rivers, such as the Nile and the Rhone, flowed directly into the Mediterranean back then,
01:59leaving behind canyons as they reached the bottom, thousands of feet below the sea level.
02:04People had to find some sort of explanation back in the day for the drawing of the Mediterranean,
02:10so they came up with myths and legends.
02:13One such tale was told by the people of southern Iberia, in modern-day Spain and Portugal.
02:19It was also recounted by a famous Roman writer called Pliny the Elder.
02:23What this legend said was that the Mediterranean used to be cut out from the ocean until the hero Hercules,
02:28with his mighty sword, carved a path.
02:31He did so between a fictional location in modern-day Africa and the Rock of Gibraltar.
02:37This allowed the ocean waters to flow in, transforming the Mediterranean into what we know today.
02:44Some fossils also seemed to confirm the unusually large flood.
02:49Remains of marine organisms were found in layers high above current sea levels.
02:54This means the areas were once submerged underwater.
02:57These fossils belonged to mollusks, fish, and marine mammals.
03:02Because of modern techniques, we now have at least an estimated timing of the Zanclin flood.
03:08Scientists used computer simulations to reconstruct the event, providing further evidence that it was real.
03:15What they also discovered is that there is a possibility the Mediterranean might change once more.
03:20The Strait of Gibraltar could close, most likely because of movements deep under the ground.
03:27This could lead to the Mediterranean becoming dry again, over a span of about a thousand years.
03:33The Mediterranean area could disappear altogether if the African continent keeps shifting north too, getting closer to Europe.
03:40Another one of those famous yet still a bit hypothetical large floods is called the Black Sea Deluge Theory.
03:48Some scientists think that around 8,400 years ago, water from the Mediterranean might have spilled over into the Black Sea through a narrow passage called the Bosporus Strait.
03:59This could have caused a massive disaster, forcing people living near the Black Sea to pack up their things and move further inside the continent, in both Europe and Asia.
04:10Along with them, they might have carried stories about this colossal flood.
04:14The specialists that came up with this idea also suggested that these migrating people might have brought along new ways of farming.
04:21Not everyone from the scientific community is convinced, though.
04:26Some argue that while there might have been a flood, it likely happened earlier and was way smaller.
04:31They didn't think this flood could have caused, for example, the story of Noah's Ark.
04:36In this legend, a spiritual man was warned by a higher entity that a giant flood was on its way.
04:42The man went to gather pairs of animals and pack them all in a boat, to make sure these species would survive the devastating flood.
04:49There was also the concern among scholars that discussing real floods and ancient stories too much might blur the lines between science and fiction.
04:58There may be other reasons why these flood stories are so often found across different cultures all over our planet.
05:05One idea is that floods were incredibly destructive for early farmers, so they invented myths about them signaling the end of the world.
05:13Another idea is that people stumbled upon ancient sea creature fossils in unusual places.
05:19Leading them to believe there was a significant flood in the past.
05:23The solution to future floods, though, might be floating cities.
05:27As sea levels continue to rise, coastal cities like Amsterdam, New Orleans, and Venice may go under.
05:34So, floating infrastructure may be the way to go, with buildings that can rise with the water levels, making them able to resist extreme weather too.
05:43Countries like the Netherlands, which have a history of managing water risks, are pioneering these floating creations.
05:50With cities running out of space for expansion, we might be forced to move on water anyway.
05:56By moving on the water, we can reduce crowding and create more interesting ways to feed ourselves, like floating gardens.
06:02These homes also come with great alternatives to our energy needs, through systems that use solar and wind power.
06:09Not to mention that these homes might turn out to be cheaper in the long run.
06:14One such floating city might pop up soon in the Maldives.
06:18Its goal is to host up to 20,000 people and will feature places to live and eat, but also shops and schools.
06:25Designed to look like coral, the region will include canals placed between some 5,000 floating pieces of land.
06:33The city will be constructed using modular units, put together in a construction site nearby.
06:38After they're completed, they'll be towed to the floating city.
06:41The next step is to secure them to a large underwater concrete hull, which is screwed tightly to the seabed on some steel stilts.
06:49All these pieces of construction let the modular units easily move as naturally as the sea.
06:55Even for those that are afraid of seasickness, there's a solution.
06:59That's what the nearby coral reef is for.
07:02It will surround the city, making a natural wave breaker.
07:06Human-made coral banks will also be placed underneath the city, which will also help coral grow naturally.
07:13The long-term goal is to make the establishment self-sufficient.
07:16It will have electricity, mostly from on-site solar power.
07:20Waste will be treated nearby and reused as plant fertilizer.
07:23Instead of air conditioning, the city will use deep-sea water cooling.
07:28This method pumps cold water from the deep sea to cool the area, saving energy.
07:34Earth is not the only planet that's seen some serious floods.
07:38In ancient times, Mars seems to have experienced them too, and they played an important role in shaping its surface.
07:44Recent research reveals that billions of years ago, Mars was heavily affected by some serious river flooding, which contributed to the formation of its valleys and canyons.
07:56The reason for these floods was heavy rainfall, which reshaped the Martian landscape in a jiffy, at times even within days or weeks.
08:04Unlike Earth, where rivers form pretty slowly, Mars experienced rapid changes because of these floods, particularly around 4 billion years ago.
08:14We've known for quite some time that there have been floods on Mars, but this study really showed us their extent.
08:20We now know they were more widespread and frequent than previously thought.
08:25Scientists claim that Icelandia was a region between Greenland and Scandinavia that was more than 230,000 square miles, but is now underwater.
08:35The Earth was once a large pizza pie, with all the continents connected to each other millions of years ago, otherwise known as Pangaea.
08:44The North Atlantic region we know today was dry land from about 335 million to 175 million years ago.
08:53For many years, scientists and geologists assumed that the North Atlantic Ocean was birthed as Pangaea began to split apart roughly 200 million years ago.
09:04With volcanoes in the region where Iceland is, the country came to be just 60 million years ago,
09:10as it broke off and sailed away from all the other lands.
09:15And since the Earth was like a large pizza pie, it divided like one.
09:20Many of the lands split up into many large and small pieces, creating the continents we know today.
09:27But this new theory suggests that the result of Pangaea's splitting left out some land that stretched for around 200 miles.
09:36And just about 10 million years ago, that piece of land submerged in the waters on the eastern and western side, leaving the tip of the land, which is now Iceland.
09:47When plate tectonics move, they grind on each other, which gave shape to our current landscape, all thanks to the mantle.
09:56This new radical theory goes against everything written in history books and what scientists have been studying.
10:03They began shaking heads, drawing lots of skepticism and criticism.
10:08But by analyzing the ocean floor under Iceland and the Earth's crust, we can assume that this idea isn't far-fetched.
10:17The crust beneath Iceland happens to be a lot thicker than the typical ones.
10:23Oceanic crust is made up of unique melted rocks compared to the land crusts where we walk and live on, and is a lot more denser.
10:31The thinnest layer on Earth is the crust, where life takes place.
10:36It's essential for water, growing food, gathering natural resources and minerals, and breathing in oxygen.
10:42It sinks below to the bottom, but right above the Earth's mantle.
10:47It also refreshes itself, since it constantly gets recycled into the mantle and back up.
10:52This is why the rocks in the oceanic crust are around 25 miles thick, compared to just 5 miles anywhere else.
11:01This is also reasonable, given that it's in a hotspot for volcanoes.
11:07Magnetic surveys of the ocean floor show layers of molten crust in stripe patterns.
11:12Also given the fact that the Earth's magnetic field changed its polarity over millions of years, it played a role in shaping the foundation of our landscape.
11:23But there isn't any concrete evidence to prove this new theory just yet.
11:28One of the first steps is to start digging the ocean floor near Iceland.
11:32Zircon is a very sturdy mineral that can last for billions of years, despite erosion in the Earth's crust.
11:39By taking samples and studying them, researchers can estimate the geological age of the continents.
11:46This will make sure the crust is oceanic, which is thicker, or continental, which is the regular crust we walk on.
11:54This isn't an overnight project, and would come with a hefty cost.
11:58Another way is to do seismic surveys that can measure echoes conducted on research ships.
12:05Drilling holes miles deep in the crust can also help with the research.
12:10But this would cost more than studying the zircon minerals.
12:14Some fossilized plants unique to both Scandinavia and Greenland might prove that Icelandia was once on the surface and possibly scattered with trees.
12:24It wasn't a cold land as it is today, so it may have had forests.
12:29But scientists still haven't found fossil evidence of animals common in both lands to suggest anything.
12:36But maybe time will tell.
12:38The theory goes deeper, which suggests that there was a greater Icelandia.
12:44With Iceland, Ireland, Britain, Scandinavia, and Greenland all in one microcontinent, it could be a destination of winter enthusiasts and great for skiing.
12:55It could be possible to connect Canada to Greater Icelandia by train over the ocean, which would open up the economy even more.
13:04Iceland is around 40,000 square miles, which is already quite big.
13:08And if the Greater Icelandia was present today, then Europe would be a completely different continent.
13:15Many theories are circulating about other possible hidden microcontinents around the world.
13:21Scientists aren't certain of the possibility of Icelandia's existence.
13:26But if all the studies conducted were done correctly, then the theory could change everything we know about Iceland and the North Atlantic Ocean.
13:34And this could pave the way for other sunken microcontinents around the world.
13:40Another theory out there is that New Zealand was the tip of a lost subcontinent, even bigger than Icelandia, called Zeelandia.
13:50Studies show that it separated from the supercontinent Gondwana between 79 to 83 million years ago.
13:57Scientists claim that it's the thinnest and youngest continent discovered underwater.
14:02Craton is a core rock that acts as the main foundation for most continents.
14:08It's at least a billion years old.
14:10But the continental crust that makes up Zeelandia is just half of that, which makes it quite young.
14:16That means some Craton is missing, even though it holds some leftovers of older rocks and parts of the mantle.
14:24They're estimated to be as old as 2.7 billion years old.
14:28Scientists did some studies on the zircon crystals from New Zealand and found out that they're as old as 1.3 billion years old.
14:37The rest of the continents are more than 3 billion years old.
14:40Scientists studied the composition of the rocks in the bottom of the ocean around New Zealand.
14:46They're made up of silica and granite, which are found in continental crusts.
14:50The ocean floors mainly have magnesium and iron-rich rocks.
14:55They're also thicker and higher than regular ocean crusts around it.
15:00They conducted some studies and collected magnetic and topographic data to see the link between the Tasman and Coral Seas in the Cato Trough region.
15:09This is the narrow strip between Zealandia and Australia.
15:12Satellite data tracked tiny faults in the Earth's gravity to map out the crust of the ocean floor surrounding the area.
15:20They saw the mass that makes up Zealandia quite visible and almost the size of Australia.
15:26Even though the signs are there, this doesn't prove anything.
15:30It's possible that there are a bunch of microcontinents, which all split apart when Australia broke free of Gondwana.
15:36Back then, the supercontinent was made up of South America, Antarctica, Australia, Zealandia, Arabia, and the Indian subcontinent.
15:47New Zealand is already not the biggest country out there.
15:50But if the theories are correct, then Zealandia will be six times its original size.
15:57Mauritius is a young island that's only a few million years old.
16:00Just 1,200 miles off the coast of Africa, it's believed that the tiny island came to life around 9 million years ago.
16:09The underwater volcanoes in the region spewed out so much lava that it formed the land today.
16:15But scientists found zircon rocks that are more than 3 billion years old.
16:20It may also be part of a continent submerged underwater called Mauritia, which is just a quarter of the size of Madagascar.
16:28The zircons they found were embedded in solid rocks and not just in the sand,
16:33which may rule out that they just washed up on shore from another continent.
16:37Some scientists are still not convinced.
16:40They suggest that discovering rocks that stand out from the other typical ones brought by an eruption
16:45could skew the scientific community to this theory.
16:49But just like how Icelandia could be part of Greater Icelandia,
16:53Mauritia was once called Rodinia, which consisted of India and Madagascar.
16:59Theories suggest that Mauritia was covered in water when India broke away from Madagascar,
17:05something like 85 million years ago.
17:08That's it for today.
17:10So hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your friends.
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