Episode 204 - The Messinian Salinity Crisis

Around six million years ago, the Mediterranean Sea dried up, wreaking havoc with local marine life and leaving a dramatic legacy in the geologic record in the form of massive salt deposits. This episode, we’ll explore the evidence for this event, why it happened, how it ended, and the impact it left in the fossil record.

In the news: marine crocs, giant cicadas, giant tadpoles, and drowning bats.

Time markers:

Intro & Announcements: 00:00:00

News: 00:04:25

Main discussion, Part 1: 00:42:35

Main discussion, Part 2: 01:09:35

Patron question: 02:02:15

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The Intro and Outro music is “On the Origin of Species” by Protodome. More music like this at ocremix.org

Musical Interludes are "Professor Umlaut" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0