The extreme geological changes of the Red Sea 6 million years ago

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The Book of Exodus tells of a miraculous parting of the Red Sea that allowed Moses and the Israelites to escape Egypt. Now, science has an older and more extreme tale to tell: About 6.2 million years ago, the Red Sea dried up completely.

Some millennia later, the dried seabed filled back up in a cataclysmic flood that may have carved a deep, nearly 200-mile-long (320 kilometers) submarine canyon into the Red Sea's floor.

"Our findings show that the Red Sea basin records one of the most extreme environmental events on Earth, when it dried out completely and was then suddenly reflooded about 6.2 million years ago," study lead author Tihana Pensa, a researcher at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia, said in a statement. "The flood transformed the basin, restored marine conditions, and established the Red Sea's lasting connection to the Indian Ocean."

https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/rivers-oceans/the-red-sea-experienced-one-of-the-most-extreme-environmental-events-on-earth-6-million-years-ago