Meanings
- geographyA theorised flood, 5.33 million years ago, of the Mediterranean basin, then dry due to the Messinian salinity crisis, triggered by its reconnection with the Atlantic Ocean, that marks the transition from the Miocene epoch (Messinian age) to the Pliocene epoch (Zanclean age).
This formation represents the Zanclean flood that coincided with the end of the MSC event in the Cyrenaica Basin.
2021, Osama Rahil Shaltami, Fares F. Fares, Hwedi Errishi, Farag M. EL Oshebi, Isotope Geochronology of the Exposed Rocks in the Cyrenaica Basin, NE Libya, Springer, page 1232 more examples
Tying a supposed post-Diest Sands fast sea-level fall to the event of the Zanclean flood is inconsistent with available ages. The drop in global sea level entailed by the still debated Zanclean flood, which would have ended the Messinian salinity crisis (base level fall of 1.5—2 km in a landlocked Mediterranean Sea) by breaching the Gibraltar land barrier and refilling the Mediterranean basin has been dated at 5.33 Ma (Krijgsman, et al. 1999).
2018, Rik Houthuys, Johan Matthijs, “14: The Hageland Hills, Legacies of the Depositional Architecture of the Miocene Diest Sands”, in Alain Demoulin, editor, Landscapes and Landforms of Belgium and Luxembourg, Springer, page 247Think of it as the Zanclean flood, the flood that more than 5 million years ago filled the empty cavity where the Mediterranean now sits.
2020, Samuel Jay Keyser, The Mental Life of Modernism, The MIT Press, page xSynonyms: Zanclean deluge, terminal Messinian flood
Synonyms & antonyms
proper nounA theorised flood, 5.33 million years ago, of the Mediterranean basin, then dry due to the Messinian salinity crisis, triggered by its reconnection with the Atlantic Ocean, that marks the transition from the Miocene epoch (Messinian age) to the Pliocene epoch (Zanclean age).
Translations
French transgression zancléenne
- transgression zancléenneFlood theorised to have refilled the Mediterranean basin
German Zancleum-Flut
- Zancleum-FlutFlood theorised to have refilled the Mediterranean basin
Italian alluvione zancleana, diluvio zancleano
- alluvione zancleanaFlood theorised to have refilled the Mediterranean basin
- diluvio zancleanoFlood theorised to have refilled the Mediterranean basin
Cite this entry
Zanclean flood. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Zanclean%20flood
“Zanclean flood.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Zanclean%20flood. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Zanclean flood,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Zanclean%20flood.
Source: Zanclean flood on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.