Computational fluid dynamics simulations of the Zanclean catastrophic flood of the Mediterranean (5.33Â Ma)

•Zanclean flood of the Mediterranean simulated with a 2D fluid dynamics model•Induced circulation in the filling Mediterranean has been obtained.•Flow through Gibraltar Strait is in the order of 100 Sv.•Calculated erosion rates compatible with the incision channel detected in Gibraltar Strait•Results confirm hypothesis that regressive erosion was essential in the Mediterranean filling.

Numerical simulations of the Mediterranean Sea filling after the Messinian salinity crisis have been carried out with a two-dimensional non-linear depth-averaged hydrodynamic model. It overcomes simplifications and gross estimates of previous 0-D models. Erosion of the seabed has been implemented in the model domain. The highest erosion rates were found in the Alboran Island passage and in the eastern side of the Strait of Gibraltar. Regressive erosion, at a final stage, can account for the incision channel found in Camarinal Sill. This last limits the inflow to some 90 Sv when the cross-section in the eastern side becomes higher. Water level in the Mediterranean increases at a rate of a few meters per day. Detailed views of the induced circulation in the Mediterranean Sea have also been obtained.