Mediterranean Sea Mediterranean Sea as follows: Stretching from the Strait of Gibraltar in the west to the entrances to the Dardanelles and the Suez Canal in the east, the Mediterranean Sea is bounded by the coasts of Europe, Africa and Asia, and is divided into two deep basins: Being nearly landlocked affects conditions in the Mediterranean Sea: for instance, tides are very limited as a result of the narrow connection with the Atlantic Ocean. The Mediterranean is characterised and immediately recognised by its deep blue colour. Evaporation greatly exceeds precipitation and river runoff in the Mediterranean, a fact that is central to
Mediterranean Sea crisis, before being refilled by the Zanclean flood about 5.3 million years ago. It covers an approximate area of 2.5 million km (965,000 sq mi), but its connection to the Atlantic (the Strait of Gibraltar) is only wide. The Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Gibraltar and Spain in Europe from Morocco in Africa. In oceanography, it is sometimes called the "Eurafrican Mediterranean Sea" or the "European Mediterranean Sea" to distinguish it from mediterranean seas elsewhere. The Mediterranean Sea has an average depth of and the deepest recorded