Researchers believe they have found evidence of the formation of the Mediterranean Sea, five million years ago. Their findings suggest a 200km channel from the Atlantic Ocean, and carved out through the Gibraltar Stait, could have filled the low-lying land in just two years, raising the water level by 10 metres per day.
Source: “Ancient Mediterranean flood mystery solved“, BBC News, 9 December 2009
Paper: “Catastrophic flood of the Mediterranean after the Messinian salinity crisis“, D. Garcia-Castellanos, et al, Nature 462, 778-781 (10 December 2009)