<P> According to this model , water from the Atlantic Ocean refilled the dried up basin through the modern - day Strait of Gibraltar . The Mediterranean Basin flooded mostly during a period estimated to have been between several months and two years . Sea level rise in the basin may have reached rates at times greater than ten metres per day ( thirty feet per day ) . Based on the erosion features preserved until modern times under the Pliocene sediment , Garcia - Castellanos et al. estimate that water rushed down a drop of more than 1 kilometre ( 0.62 mi ) with a discharge of up to 2 × 10 m / s ( 7.1 × 10 cu ft / s ) , about 1,000 times that of the present day Amazon River . Studies of the underground structures at the Gibraltar Strait show that the flooding channel descended in a rather gradual way toward the bottom of the basin rather than forming a steep waterfall . </P>
<P> According to this model , water from the Atlantic Ocean refilled the dried up basin through the modern - day Strait of Gibraltar . The Mediterranean Basin flooded mostly during a period estimated to have been between several months and two years . Sea level rise in the basin may have reached rates at times greater than ten metres per day ( thirty feet per day ) . Based on the erosion features preserved until modern times under the Pliocene sediment , Garcia - Castellanos et al. estimate that water rushed down a drop of more than 1 kilometre ( 0.62 mi ) with a discharge of up to 2 × 10 m / s ( 7.1 × 10 cu ft / s ) , about 1,000 times that of the present day Amazon River . Studies of the underground structures at the Gibraltar Strait show that the flooding channel descended in a rather gradual way toward the bottom of the basin rather than forming a steep waterfall . </P>
how long did it take for the mediterranean sea to fill
how long did it take for the mediterranean sea to fill
estimated to have been between several months and two years
estimated to have been between several months and two years