The Mediterranean has three layers of water masses; cycle gyms a surface layer, an intermediate layer, and a deep layer that sinks to the bottom. About 5.33 million years ago as a result of the Zanclean flood, the Atlantic waters rapidly refilled the basin to form the present Mediterranean Sea. The western portion of the Mediterranean Sea is further subdivided into three major submarine basins.
Exclusive economic zone
Scientists estimate that the sea was last filled about 5.3 million years ago (mya) in less than two years by the Zanclean flood. There are salt deposits accumulated on the bottom of the basin of more than a million cubic kilometres—in some places more than three kilometres thick. The Messinian salinity crisis started about six million years ago (mya) when the Mediterranean became landlocked, and then essentially dried up.
Bordering Countries
The sea is characterised by its numerous islands, peninsulas, and coastal regions that vary dramatically in topography. Its waters have witnessed the rise and fall of empires, the spread of religions, and the flourishing of arts and sciences. The sea has served as a vital conduit for trade, cultural exchange, and migration for millennia, shaping the destinies of the nations that line its shores. Species from the Red Sea that have invaded the Mediterranean through the Suez canal have become a major harmful component of the Mediterranean ecosystem endangering many local and endemic Mediterranean species. The Red Sea is higher than the Eastern Mediterranean, so the canal serves as a tidal strait that pours Red Sea water into the Mediterranean. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 created the first saltwater passage between the Mediterranean and Red seas.
Arrival of new tropical Atlantic species
The construction of the Aswan High Dam in 1970 put an end to this seasonal fluctuation of the Nile's discharge into the Mediterranean. The Rifian Corridor closed about six million years ago, allowing exchanges of mammal species between Africa and Europe. In the Mediterranean basin, diatomites are regularly found underneath the evaporitic deposits, suggesting a connection between their geneses. Evaporites accumulated in the Red Sea Basin (late Miocene), in the Carpattian foredeep (middle Miocene) and in the whole Mediterranean area (Messinian). The semi-enclosed configuration of the Mediterranean Sea makes the oceanic gateways critical in controlling circulation and environmental evolution. Because of this, geological studies of the layers of rock under the Mediterranean which bear marine sapropel (dark-colored sediments containing organic matter) provide us with high-resolution climatic information for the time periods when those sediments were deposited.
The cool and relatively low-salinity Atlantic water circulates eastwards along the North African coasts. The Malta Escarpment is a 250-kilometre (160 mi) undersea limestone escarpment that stretches south from Sicily's eastern coast to the Maltese islands' eastern coast and beyond, primarily formed due to tectonic activities. While the Mediterranean watershed is bordered by other river basins in Europe, it is essentially bordered by endorheic basins or deserts elsewhere. ] Around 1200 BC the eastern Mediterranean was greatly affected by the Bronze Age Collapse, which resulted in the destruction of many cities and trade routes.
These waters have different physical and chemical characteristics, and the periodic inversion of the North Ionian Gyre (called Bimodal Oscillating System or BiOS) changes the Mediterranean circulation and biogeochemistry around the Adriatic and Levantine regions. When new deep water is formed, the older waters mix with the overlaying intermediate waters and eventually exit the Mediterranean. Upon reaching the Levantine Sea, the surface water, having warmed and increased its salinity from its initial Atlantic state, is now denser and sinks to form the Levantine Intermediate Waters (LIW).
- A study showed that climate change-related exceptional marine heatwaves in the Mediterranean Sea during 2015–2019 resulted in widespread mass sealife die-offs in five consecutive years.
- The Alboran Sea is a transition zone between the two seas, containing a mix of Mediterranean and Atlantic species.
- However, tourism has also played a major role in the degradation of the coastal and marine environment.
- The North Atlantic is considerably colder and more nutrient-rich than the Mediterranean, and the marine life of the Mediterranean has had to adapt to its differing conditions in the five million years since the basin was reflooded.
- The quantity of fresh water flowing into the Mediterranean from rivers is only one-third of the amount lost through evaporation.
The Mediterranean Sea covers an area of about 2,500,000 km2 (970,000 sq mi), representing 0.7% of the global ocean surface; it includes fifteen marginal seas, including the Aegean, Adriatic, Tyrrhenian, and Marmara. Leaky tankers and washing containers at sea contribute to water pollution of the Mediterranean. The people of these civilizations not only traded with others but sailed over the calm seas to enlarge their territories through warfare. This ocean extended to the north of today’s Alps and to the east as far as the Ural Mountains. The Mediterranean region is known for its diverse economic activities, including tourism, agriculture, fishing, shipping, and trade. The Mediterranean region has a Mediterranean climate, characterized by hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters.
Human Activities and Impact on the Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea basin was formed during the Late Triassic and the early Jurassic periods due to the convergence of the African and Eurasian plates. The Mediterranean Sea experiences a typical Mediterranean climate with hot and dry summers and mild and rainy winters. In addition to these, there are some other seas such as the Sea of Sardinia, Sea of Sicily, Libyan Sea, Cilician Sea, and the Levantine Sea.
The impacts of some Lessepsian species have proven to be considerable, mainly in the Levantine basin of the Mediterranean, where they are replacing native species and becoming a familiar sight. A first look at some groups of marine species shows that over 70% of exotic decapods and some 2/3 of exotic fishes found in the Mediterranean are of Indo-Pacific origin, introduced from the Red Sea via the Suez Canal. Forest fires, whether human-made or natural, are a frequent and dangerous hazard in the Mediterranean region. In addition climate change now intensifies the frequency and impacts of storm surges and coastal flooding, putting additional human lives and property at risk. The geology of the region, with the presence of plate boundaries and active faults, makes it prone to quite frequent earthquakes, tsunamis and submarine landslides with can have devastating consequences in densely populated coastal areas.
The Levant in the Eastern Mediterranean was among the first regions in the world to display permanent human habitation as early as 12,000 BC. With fresh updates rolling out every day, you'll dive into a sea of fast-streaming sex vids that navigate smoother than a hot knife through butter. We host a massive stash of xxx porn that span every existing porn category known to humankind – it locked and loaded, ready for you to binge! Recently, the countries surrounding the Mediterranean region have been moving closer together in an attempt to protect the region. Overfishing has also become a problem in the Mediterranean region. Pollution has become widespread along the coasts of the Mediterranean as tourism dumps thousands of tons of sewage into the sea each year.
Messinian salinity crisis
The wide ecological diversity typical of Mediterranean Europe is predominantly based on human behaviour, as it is and has been closely related to human usage patterns. The historical evolution of climate, vegetation and landscape in southern Europe from prehistoric times to the present is much more complex and underwent various changes. The image of a simplistic, environmental determinist notion of a Mediterranean paradise on Earth in antiquity, which was destroyed by later civilisations, dates back to at least the 18th century and was for centuries fashionable in archaeological and historical circles. Unlike the vast multidirectional ocean currents in open oceans within their respective oceanic zones; biodiversity in the Mediterranean Sea is stable due to the subtle but strong locked nature of currents which is favourable to life, even the smallest macroscopic type of volcanic life form. Since the Mediterranean is subject to the deposition of eolian dust from the Sahara during dry periods, whereas riverine detrital input prevails during wet ones, the Mediterranean marine sapropel-bearing sequences provide high-resolution climatic information. The underlying energy grid was also intended to support a political union between Europe and, at least, the Maghreb part of Africa (compare Eurafrika for the later impact and Desertec for a later project with some parallels in the planned grid).