ERATOSTHENES

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Context

The Geological Institute of Israel uncovered a never before known about underwater canyon near Cyprus. 

Details

The canyon

• The canyon, known as Eratosthenesfor the underwater mountain it is near, dates back to the Messinian Event that transpired about 5.5 million years ago.
• The canyon is about 10 km wide and 500 m deep and was buried at the beginning of the Messinian period before the deposition of the salt layer.
• It was created when the level of the Mediterranean Sea decreased at the same time there was a rise in the salinity of the water, which apparently created gravity currents or dense solutions that caused the destabilization of the submarine slopes and subsidence of the seabed.
• According to the institute in a broader aspect this work reveals the environmental conditions of high salinity and lower sea level in the deep Mediterranean basin at the beginning of the Messinian event.
• Also known as the Messinian salinity crisis, the Messinian event was a geological event during which the Mediterranean Sea went into a cycle of partial or nearly complete desiccation.

Cyprus

• Cyprus is an island country located in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, north of the Sinai Peninsula, south of the Anatolian Peninsula, and west of the Levant.
• It is geographically a part of West Asia. Cyprus is the third-largest and third-most populous island in the Mediterranean.