Rifting

At https://phys.org/print439805896.html … core samples taken from the Mediterranean Sea at three different locations in the Gulf of Corinth provide a record of complex change in marine life and rift faulting in the region. The Corinth Gulf is thought to lie on an active Plate boundary although the term rift can apply to a fault zone. Earthquakes are common. Analysis of the cores came up with something else though and this is that the sea level in the Mediterranean has fluctuated on a number of occasions during the last half a million years. This is assumed by the researchers to be due solely to expansion and retraction of the ice sheets during the ebb and flow of Ice Ages – although sea levels can vary for a number of other reasons, including changes in the earth's geoid and a redistribution of ocean water. Ice ages and sea levels are joined at the hip in mainstream theory even though we have evidence of high sea levels  contradicting the assumption. Sea levels in the Mediterranean reflect on how open to the Atlantic the straits of Gibraltar may have been – height of the sea at that geographical point. Lower global sea levels would presumably mean that not a full flow of Atlantic waters were able to penetrate the straits. This is not to say the Mediterranean dried up – although that did happen several million years ago. Reduced flow is indicated – possibly because the equatorial bulge was located elsewhere. Unfortunately the press release doesn't give much information away as far as dates of fluctuations are concerned. The press release comes from Southampton University.