Stall report: the Messinian salinity crisis display
Report on the market stall held on Saturday 3 October. Prepared by Priya Raman, Community Engagement Officer.
| Volunteers | Lorraine K., Jess T., Priya Raman |
| Set-up | 6.30 am |
| Fact sheets given out | Nearly all of the printed stock |
| Still needed | Two volunteers for the next stall |
New display
The stall now has a large map of the Mediterranean showing the Messinian salinity crisis. About 5.96 million years ago the Mediterranean was cut off from the Atlantic. Over the next 600,000 years it largely dried out, more than once, and left more than a million cubic kilometres of salt on the sea floor.15 A 2024 study in Science found that of the 779 species that lived only in the Mediterranean before the crisis, 86 survived, and it took at least 1.7 million years for diversity to recover.
The display was well received, in particular by children. Dr Merriman supplied the background. Volunteers who would like to work the next stall should contact the office.
The Kings Beach Salt Runoff Containment Proposal is a proposal to build a 6 metre concrete wall between the sand and the sea at Kings Beach, Broken Head, NSW, to stop salt reaching the ocean. It has not been approved and no works are scheduled.