The Mediterranean Sea could completely disappear as new supercontinent forms

The food, the weather, the beaches… thousands of tourists flock to the Mediterranean Sea every year, and with good reason. In fact, for many, it would be unfathomable to imagine a world without it, yet, this horrifying thought could become a reality.

Encompassing some of the most popular holiday destinations including Greece, Spain, and Italy, it is the largest enclosed sea in the world with 46,000 km of coastline. 

Moreover, the Mediterranean Sea spreads across a total of 22 countries in territories from Europe, Africa and the Middle East. 

Mediterranean Sea lovers will remember its turquoise waters and ideal climate. However, all good things come to an end, and this heavenly area is no exception to the rule. 

As two of Earth’s great tectonic plates crash together in super slow motion, the Mediterranean Sea is likely to be wiped off the face of the planet in the distant future, IFL Science reported.

The Mediterranean Sea is a rather young body of water that formed around five and a half million years ago, as a result of the world’s biggest flood which ocean-ified a previously hot, dry desert.

This flood created what would ultimately become swanky vacation spots like Santorini, and cradles of history including Athens, TwistedSifter explained.

Wout Krijgsman, professor at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, explained that initially there was an ocean called Tethys between Europe and Africa. 

He told Express.co.uk: “The northward movement of Africa with respect to Europe made this ocean progressively smaller. 

“Then a collision happened first in the East and the marine connection to the Indian Ocean closed about 19million years ago (Ma). 

“You could argue that some kind of pre-cursor Mediterranean was formed with only connections to the Atlantic. 

“Next, a collision took place in the West closing the connections to the Atlantic Ocean (through southern Spain and Morocco). 

“At 5.5 Ma, the Mediterranean was isolated from the open oceans and first developed in a salt-brine with kilometres thick salt deposits at its sea floor. 

“Then it became a brackish water lake called ‘Lago Mare’ (Lake Sea) with mostly fauna comparable to the present day Caspian basin. 

“At 5.3 Ma the connection through Gibraltar was re-established causing a massive flooding of this Mediterranean lake. 

“From that flooding onward the gateway system functioned in a stable way (until the Bosporus opened and the Suez Channel was made).”

Earth’s current arrangement of continents (Africa, Eurasia, the Americas, Oceania), is only temporary. 

According to IFL Science, continental configurations have changed drastically in the past and will continue to evolve in the future due to the movement of tectonic plates. 

As a result, the major threat to the Mediterranean Sea is the gradual collision of the African (Nubian) plate into the Eurasian plate. 

“The northward convergence of the African plate still continues as it is related to the opening of the Atlantic Ocean,” Professor Krijgsman said. “So in theory the Mediterranean could become isolated again.”

He added: “If this process continues the Mediterranean sea will disappear and one big landmass will form with Africa attached to Europe.”

In a similar way that resulted in the Alps Mountain range in Europe, the African and Eurasian plates began converging some 100 million years ago, gradually closing the ocean basins between them, a 2022 research revealed.

Over time, the sea’s area will become smaller, and subject to more and more evaporation, eventually reverting into a dry and salty land.

“If it will be saltier or less salty than today will depend on the local climate and the amount of evaporation and fresh water run-off,” Professor Krijgsman shared.

According to Tim Minshull, a professor in ocean and Earth science at the University of Southampton, in the short term (hundreds of years), the sea could get a bit larger due to the competing effects of ice-cap melting and sea-level rise.

However, this nightmare will take millions of years to come to fruition. 

Jonathan Sharples, a professor in oceanography at the University of Liverpool told The Express: “The movement of tectonic plates reconfigures the continents on our planet continuously, but very, very slowly (e.g. the Atlantic Ocean is getting wider at about the same speed that your fingernails grow).”

He added: “[It will take] millions of years before the Mediterranean is likely to disappear. It’s unlikely there will be humans around to see it.”

Professor Krijgsman echoed: “Nothing to worry, it will take millions of years at least.”