if the meditteranian basin was empty of water how long would it take to fill up from the atlantic ocean.?

Question

also what effect would this have on the worlds coastline

Answer 1

Nice question.

Given that theres a hell of a lot of water needing to rush through a strait 13Km wide and at points only 300m deep, filling up a sea basin of 4.2 million cubic Km would take ooooh.....well, quite some time.

The Med is only a tiny proportion of the entire worlds sea water, but lets just say those rapids off Gibraltar would still give one hell of a ride!!

Answer 2

There is a great deal of evidence that for a period of time the Mediterranean basin was cut off from the ocean and did dry up. So, some folks have given some thought to how fast it could fill if suddenly opened to the Atlantic. Using a model (correct or not) of a sudden, catastrophic opening of the Gibraltar Straits, they calculated that a “giant waterfall” that cascaded at the rate of about 40,000 cubic km/yr, COULD fill the empty Mediterranean basin with Atlantic waters in 100 years (Hsu and Ryan). Whether this is the way the basin did refill is part of an ongoing scientific discussion--but that isn't what you asked.

Read more here about evidence and ideas-its pretty interesting:
http://www.semp.us/biots/biot_350.html

And global sea levels would have to drop somewhat to account for the transfer of water into the basin.

Answer 3

This has happened. About six million years ago the basin was blocked off at its western end (Gibraltar) When the water evaporated, there were vast deposits of salt left, which are still there. The canyons created by the rivers flowing, or falling, into the basin, can still be traced. When the land bridge was breached, there must have been the mother of all waterfalls, and it would have taken hundreds of years to fill up the basin again.
Fascinating stuff!

Answer 4

I live on the Chesapeake Bay and the wind empties our rivers/inlets quite often. We are having an extreemly low tide now. Sailboats are sitting on the bottom. We genrally have an 18 inch tide. It is now 5 feet below normal low. The Med is bigger and I do not know if it experiences similar happenings,(the wind that does ours is NW) but life goes on, even for the watermen. certainly if the Med emptied it would effect the Atlantic coastline.

Answer 5

the med was once empty, but filled at the end of the last glacial period (i think). apparently it filled quite quickly. it would have only minor effect on world coastlines but quite a dramatic one in the med. ie -none to having one