Aral Seas, called the Paratethys. It covered much of eastern Europe. About 15
million years ago, the Mediterranean separated from the Paratethys, which
became a brackish (slightly salty) sea, much like the Black Sea of today.
The disintegration of the great inland waterway was closely associated with
the sudden drying of the Mediterranean. The waters of the Black Sea drained
into the desiccated basin of the Mediterranean. In a brief moment in geologic
time, the Black Sea became practically a dry basin.Then during the last ice age,
it refilled again and became a freshwater lake. The brackish, largely stagnant sea
that occupies the basin today has evolved since the end of the last ice age.
After covering the evolution of the mammals during the Tertiary, the
next chapter will examine the ice ages of the Quaternary period.
TERTIARY MAMMALS