'Bridge to Africa' found beneath Alborán Sea
Tuesday, September 11, 2018 @ 12:51 PM
SCIENTISTS have discovered a string of submerged islands between the Cabo de Gata (Almería province) and what is now the Spanish city-province of Melilla on the northern Moroccan coast, close to the Algerian border.
These islands are close enough together that, before they were reclaimed by the sea, would have acted as a 'foot bridge' between the continents of Europe and Africa.
The volcanic archipelago across the Alborán Sea was created through eruptions around 10 million years ago and served as a bridge between the continents for animals between five and six million years ago.
Soon after this, the gradual disappearance of volcanic activity in the region and the cooling of the earth's crust across the European and African tectonic plates meant the islands began to be covered by the sea, disappearing altogether beneath the water some 1.8 million years ago.
Dr Guillermo Booth-Rea of the Andalucía Earth Sciences Institute and a member of Spain's High Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) says the 'bridge' would have led to 'an exchange of fauna' between Africa and Europe, with 'camels and rabbits' mostly using it.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com