Miocene Rivers Merge to Create the Euphrates, Paving Civilization’s Cradle

Geoscientists reconstruct the Euphrates’ origin, showing it formed when the Paleo-Karasu and Paleo-Murat rivers merged after tectonic shifts in the Miocene (roughly 3.6 million and 2.8 million years ago). The combined waterway then flowed toward the Persian Gulf by about 1.6 million years ago, leaving offshore river deposits that reveal the two rivers were larger than the modern Nile. This birth of the Euphrates helped shape the Fertile Crescent and the civilizations that arose there, illustrating how major shifts in water distribution sculpt landscapes and life on Earth.