† Earth Surface Science Institute, School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, U.K. ‡ School of Civil Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, U.K. § School of Process ...

briny lakes surrounded by mile after mile of salt and gypsum. Today, scientists call this the Messinian Salinity Crisis: in the dying days of the Miocene epoch, most of the Mediterranean died.