As the African continent moved east and rotated counterclockwise, the Mediterranean was formed as a pocket, more a bay, rather large one, out of the Indian ocean with the European continent as the north coast.
Then as the African continent rotated more, and crashed into the Arabian peninsula the Mediterranean was cut off from the Indian ocean, as the Suez was choked off. This lasted for a while, until the med was mostly evaporated, much like the great salt lake.
lastly, the African continent rotated counterclockwise a bit more, creating the crack in the wall between Spain and morocco, letting in a real ocean into the valley.
Would be cool to see how many civilizations are on the Mediterranean sea floor.
Tectonic uplift at the Gibraltar Arc and the desiccation of the Mediterranean. Towards a mechanistic model for the Messinian Salinity Crisis.
Daniel Garcia-Castellanos
Published 2010
https://www.academia.edu/2877442/Tectonic_uplift_at_the_Gibraltar_Arc_and_the_desiccation_of_the_Mediterranean._Towards_a_mechanistic_model_for_the_Messinian_Salinity_Crisis