For quite some time the Sahara desert has been estimated to be around 2 or 3 million years old, but recent research suggests it’s been around a lot longer.

For quite some time the Sahara desert has been estimated to be around 2 or 3 million years old, but recent research suggests the arid expanse has been around a lot longer.

The new research suggests that the tectonic plate movement that triggered the formation of the Alps and the Mediterranean Sea also marked the beginning of the drying out of North Africa.

That makes the desert about 7 million years old.

The study that resulted in this conclusion was performed by scientists at the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research in Bergen, Norway.

They ran computer simulations of 30 million years of development in the northern region of the African continent.

Their analysis took numerous factors into consideration including the Earth’s varying orbital positions and the influence tectonic forces had on the ratio of land to water.

What resulted was a scenario in which the water near part of what’s now the Sahara was replaced by the Arabian Peninsula around 11 to 7 million years ago, altering the African region’s precipitation patterns.

Particularly affected was the African summer monsoon, which became increasingly sensitive to the Earth’s orbital tilt, ultimately leading to a vast desert region.