KAUST researchers found that the Red Sea skilled an enormous disruption 6.2 million years in the past, utterly reworking its marine life.
Researchers at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) have confirmed that the Red Sea as soon as utterly dried up round 6.2 million years in the past, solely to be immediately refilled by a catastrophic inflow of water from the Indian Ocean. Their work locations a exact timeline on a outstanding occasion that reshaped the basin’s historical past.
By combining seismic imaging, microfossil evaluation, and geochemical relationship, the crew found that this transformation occurred inside simply 100,000 years, an exceptionally quick span in geological phrases. During this era, the Red Sea shifted from being linked to the Mediterranean to changing into a desolate salt basin. The dry part ended when a strong flood reduce by means of volcanic ridges, opening the Bab el-Mandab strait and restoring the Red Sea’s connection to the world oceans.
“Our findings show that the Red Sea basin records one of the most extreme environmental events on Earth, when it dried out completely and was then suddenly reflooded about 6.2 million years ago,” mentioned lead creator Dr. Tihana Pensa of KAUST. “The flood transformed the basin, restored marine conditions, and established the Red Sea’s lasting connection to the Indian Ocean.”
How the Indian Ocean Flooded the Red Sea
The Red Sea was initially related from the north to the Mediterranean by means of a shallow sill. This connection was severed, drying the Red Sea right into a barren salt desert. In the south of the Red Sea, close to the Hanish Islands, a volcanic ridge separates the sea from the Indian Ocean. But round 6.2 million years in the past, seawater from the Indian Ocean surged throughout this barrier in a catastrophic flood. The torrent carved a 320-kilometer-long submarine canyon that’s nonetheless seen at present on the seafloor. The flood quickly refilled the basin, drowning the salt flats and restoring regular marine circumstances in lower than 100,000 years. This occasion occurred almost 1,000,000 years earlier than the Mediterranean was refilled by the well-known Zanclean flood, giving the Red Sea a singular story of rebirth.
Why the Red Sea Matters Geologically
The Red Sea fashioned by the separation of the Arabian Plate from the African Plate starting 30 million years in the past. Initially, the sea was a slender rift valley crammed with lakes, then grew to become a wider gulf when it was flooded from the Mediterranean 23 million years in the past. Marine life thrived initially, as seen by the fossil reefs alongside the northern coast close to Duba and Umlujj. However, evaporation and poor seawater circulation elevated salinity, inflicting the extinction of marine life between 15 and 6 million years in the past. Additionally, the basin was crammed with layers of salt and gypsum. This culminated in the full desiccation of the Red Sea. The catastrophic flood from the Indian Ocean restored marine life in the Red, which persists in the coral reefs to the current.
All in all, the Red Sea is a pure laboratory for understanding how oceans are born, how salt giants accumulate, and the way local weather and tectonics work together over thousands and thousands of years. The discovery highlights how intently the Red Sea’s historical past is linked with world ocean change. It additionally reveals that the area has skilled environmental extremes earlier than, solely to return as a thriving marine ecosystem.
“This paper adds to our knowledge about the processes that form and expand oceans on Earth. It also maintains KAUST’s leading position in Red Sea research,” mentioned co-author KAUST Professor Abdulkader Al Afifi.
Reference: “Desiccation of the Red Sea basin at the start of the Messinian salinity crisis was followed by major erosion and reflooding from the Indian Ocean” by Tihana Pensa, Antonio Delgado Huertas and Abdulkader M. Afifi, 9 August 2025, Communications Earth & Environment.
DOI: 10.1038/s43247-025-02642-1
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