Fig. 3: Results of the standard model run in the western (orange dashed line) and eastern (solid blue line) Mediterranean basins.

a Salinity in g/kg; b water level in km; c volume (km³) of precipitated calcite (CaCO₃); d volume (km³) of precipitated gypsum (CaSO₄.2H₂O); e volume (km³) of precipitated halite (NaCl) and volume (km³) of total precipitated salts (faint black line); f volume (km³) of precipitated epsomite (MgSO₄.7H₂O); g volume (km³) of precipitated kainite (KClMgSO₄.3H₂O); h δ³⁷Cl of halite and kainite calculated by the model compared to the measured δ³⁷Cl values of halite form Units 1 to the bottom 2/3 of Unit 5 in the Aphrodite-2 core (AP-phase 1), halite from the top 1/3 of Unit 5 in the Aphrodite-2 core (AP-phase 2) and the halite samples at DSDP site 134 (west Sardinia margin). The blue shaded areas represent the ranges of water level (b), halite volume (e) and δ³⁷Cl_halite (h) in the eastern Mediterranean that result if the model is fitted to the lowest measured δ³⁷Cl_halite value (red circle in h) or the 2^nd lowest δ³⁷Cl_halite value (red star in h), by increasing the freshwater continental input in the eastern basin during the drawdown phase (see text); these two δ³⁷Cl_halite data points are highlighted in Fig. 2; the green lines in b, e and h represent model results corresponding to this scenario of increased continental water input.