Extended Data Fig. 6: Summary of sensitivity test (Part 1) results.
From: Sill-controlled salinity contrasts followed post-Messinian flooding of the Mediterranean
a, wMed salinity profile (black) where the basin is filled to the Sicily Sill level. The thin surface layer is composed of evaporated Paratethyan waters. Blue line is wMed hypsometry. b, Evolution of the wMed level (black), mixing depth at different mixing efficiencies (0.2, 0.3 and 1 ME), velocity and flow kinetic energy with time, for the basin configuration in a. Even at 100% mixing efficiency (1 ME), flow energy fails to erode the deep brine layer. c, Comparison of refilling abruptness between a scenario where the basin is filled to the Sicily Sill level (thick lines), and a deeply desiccated basin before the catastrophic termination (dotted lines). The length of the flooding mode increases to 6400 days for a filled basin, while discharge and flow velocity are much less compared to a catastrophic termination. The shaded section demarcates the interval (dotted lines) used to compute basin evolution in the main text.
