zanclean flood
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
28
Scrabble Score
13
Letters
2
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
name
A theorised flood, 5.33 million years ago, of the Mediterranean basin, then dry due to the Messinian salinity crisis, triggered by its reconnection with the Atlantic Ocean, that marks the transition from the Miocene epoch (Messinian age) to the Pliocene epoch (Zanclean age).
Example Sentences
- "Tying a supposed post-Diest Sands fast sea-level fall to the event of the Zanclean flood is inconsistent with available ages. The drop in global sea level entailed by the still debated Zanclean flood, which would have ended the Messinian salinity crisis (base level fall of 1.5—2 km in a landlocked Mediterranean Sea) by breaching the Gibraltar land barrier and refilling the Mediterranean basin has been dated at 5.33 Ma (Krijgsman, et al. 1999)."
- "Think of it as the Zanclean flood, the flood that more than 5 million years ago filled the empty cavity where the Mediterranean now sits."
- "This formation represents the Zanclean flood that coincided with the end of the MSC event in the Cyrenaica Basin."
Synonyms
Zanclean deluge
terminal Messinian flood