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Mediterranean sea
*** Shopping-Tip: Mediterranean sea
Image:Mediterranian_Sea_16.61811E_38.99124N.jpg thumb|300px|Satellite image
The '''Mediterranean Sea''' is a part of the
Atlantic Ocean almost completely enclosed by land, on the north by
Europe, on the south by
Africa, and on the east by
Asia. It covers an approximate area of
1 E12 m² 2.5 million square kilometre km² (965 000
square mile mi²). It is also called ''the Eurafrican Mediterranean Sea'' or ''the European Mediterranean Sea'' in
oceanography to distinguish it from
mediterranean seas elsewhere.
It was a ''superhighway'' of transport in ancient times, allowing for trade and cultural exchange between emergent peoples of the region —
Ancient Egypt Egyptians,
Ancient Greece Greeks,
Ancient Rome Romans, and the
Middle-East (Arab/Persian/Semitic) cultures. The
history of the Mediterranean is important in understanding the origin and development of
Western Civilization.
Name
The term ''Mediterranean'' derives from the
Latin ''mediterraneus'', 'inland' (''medius'', 'middle' + ''terra'', 'land, earth'), in
Greek language Greek "mesogeios".
The Mediterranean Sea has been known by a number of alternative names throughout human history. It was, for example, commonly called ''
Mare Nostrum'' (Latin, ''Our Sea'') by the Romans. In the
Bible, it is referred to as the
Great Sea or the Western Sea. In modern
Hebrew language Hebrew, it is called "ha-Yam ha-Tichon" (הים התיכון), "the middle sea", a literal adaptation of the German equivalent ''Mittelmeer''. In
Turkish language Turkish, it is ''Akdeniz'', "the white sea". In Arabic, it is ''Al-BaHr Al-Abiad Al-Muttawasit'' (البØر الأبيض المتوسط), "the middle white sea".
Currently, "The Med" is a common
British English contraction for the Mediterranean Sea and its surrounding regions when employed in informal speech.
Geography
Image:Mediterranean_Relief.jpg 650px|center|Map of the Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is connected to the
Atlantic Ocean by the
Strait of Gibraltar on the west and to the
Sea of Marmara and
Black Sea, by the
Dardanelles and the
Bosporus respectively, on the east. The Sea of Marmara is often considered a part of the Mediterranean Sea, whereas the Black Sea is generally not. The man-made
Suez Canal in the south-east connects the Mediterranean Sea with the
Red Sea.
Tides are very limited in the Mediterranean as a result of the narrow connection with the
ocean.
The
Mediterranean climate is generally one of wet winters and hot, dry summers. Special crops of the region are
olives,
grapes,
orange (fruit) oranges,
tangerines, and
cork (material) cork. The region has a long
history of the Mediterranean history of civilization.
Large
islands in the Mediterranean include:
*
Cyprus,
Crete,
Euboea,
Rhodes,
Lesbos Island Lesbos,
Chios,
Kefalonia and
Corfu in the eastern Mediterranean
*
Sardinia,
Corsica,
Sicily, and
Malta in the central Mediterranean
*
Ibiza,
Majorca and
Minorca (the
Balearic Islands) in the western Mediterranean
Bordering countries
Modern states(22 states)bordering the Mediterranean Sea are:
*'''Europe''' (from west to east):
Spain,
France,
Monaco,
Italy, the island state of
Malta,
Slovenia,
Croatia,
Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Serbia and Montenegro,
Albania,
Greece,
Turkey, and the island of
Cyprus.
*'''Asia''' (from north to south):
Turkey,
Syria,
Lebanon,
Israel and the
Gaza Strip.
*'''Africa''' (from east to west):
Egypt,
Libya,
Tunisia,
Algeria and
Morocco.
Subdivisions
Image:Strasse von Gibraltar2004.jpg straits of Gibraltar.html" title="Meaning of thumb thumb|right|A view across the [[straits of Gibraltar.html" title="Meaning of right|A view across the [[straits of Gibraltar">thumb|right|A view across the [[straits of Gibraltar">right|A view across the [[straits of Gibraltar">thumb|right|A view across the [[straits of Gibraltar
The Mediterranean Sea is sub-divided into a number of smaller seas /some names may be come from the ancient legends/, each with their own designation (from west to east):
* the
Alboran Sea, between
Spain and
Morocco,
* the
Catalan Sea, between the
Iberian peninsula and the
Balearic Islands,
* the
Ligurian Sea between
Corsica and
Liguria (Italy),
* the
Tyrrhenian Sea enclosed by
Sardinia,
Italian peninsula and
Sicily,
* the
Adriatic Sea between the Italian peninsula and the
Croatian (
Dalmatian) coast,
* the
Ionian Sea between
Italy and
Greece,
* the
Aegean Sea between Greece and Turkey, with
** the
Thracian Sea in its north,
** the
Mirtoon Sea between the
Cyclades and the
Peloponnesos,
** the
Sea of Crete north of Crete, and
* the
Libyan Sea south of Crete, between the island and
Libya
* the
Sea of Marmara between the Aegean and Black Seas.
In addition to the seas, a number of
gulfs and
straits are also recognised:
*the
Gulf of Corinth, an enclosed sea between the Ionian Sea and the
Corinth Canal
*the
Saronic Gulf, the gulf of
Athens, between the Corinth Canal and the Mirtoon Sea
*the
Thermaic Gulf, the gulf of
Thessaloniki, located in the northern Greek region of
Macedonia (Greece) Macedonia
*the
Gulf of Lyon, south of
France
*the
Strait of Messina, between
Sicily and the toe of
Italy
*the
Gulf of Taranto, southern Italy,
*the
Gulf of Haifa, between
Haifa and
Akko,
Israel
*the
Gulf of Sidra, between
Tunisia and
Cyrenaica (eastern Libya)
*the
Strait of Sicily, between
Sicily and
Tunisia
*the
Corsica Channel, between
Corsica and
Italy
*the
Strait of Bonifacio, between
Sardinia and
Corsica
*the
Gulf of Iskenderun, between Iskenderun and Adana(
Turkey).
*the
Gulf of Antalya, between west and east shores of Antalya(
Turkey).
Geology
The geology of the Mediterranean is complex, involving the break-up and then collision of the African and Eurasian plates, and the
Messinian Salinity Crisis in the late
Miocene when the Mediterranean dried up.
The Mediterranean Sea has an average depth of 1,500
metre m and the deepest recorded point is 5267 meters (about 3.27 miles) in the
Calypso Deep in the
Ionian Sea. The coastline extends for 46,000
kilometre km. A shallow submarine ridge (the Strait of Sicily) between the island of
Sicily and the coast of
Tunisia divides the sea in two main subregions (which in turn are divided into subdivisions), the Western Mediterranean and the Eastern Mediterranean. The Western Mediterranean covers an area of about 0.85 million
square kilometre km² and the Eastern Mediterranean about 1.65 million
square kilometre km².
In the last few centuries, mankind has done much to alter Mediterranean geology. Structures have been built all along the coastlines, exacerbating and rerouting erosional patterns. Many pollution-producing boats travel the sea that unbalance the natural chemical ratios of the region. Beaches have been mismanaged, and the overuse of the sea's natural and marine resources continues to be a problem. This misuse speeds along and/or confounds natural processes. The actual geography has also been altered by the building of dams and canals.
The Mediterranean was once thought to be the remnant of the
Tethys Ocean. It is now known to be a structurally younger ocean basin known as Neotethys. Neotethys formed during the Late
Triassic and Early
Jurassic rift rifting of the African and Eurasian
plate tectonics plates.
Ecology
As a result of the drying of the sea during the Messinian Salinity Crisis, the marine biota of the Mediterranean are derived primarily from the
Atlantic Ocean. 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 opening of the
Suez Canal in 1869 created the first salt-water passage between the Mediterranean and
Red Sea Red seas. The Red Sea is higher than the Eastern Mediterranean, so the canal serves as a salt-water river that pours Red Sea water into the Mediterranean. The
Bitter Lakes, which are hypersaline natural lakes that form part of the canal, blocked the migration of Red Sea species into the Mediterranean for many decades, but as the salinity of the lakes gradually equalized with that of the Red Sea, the barrier to migration was removed, and plants and animals from the Red Sea have begun to colonize the eastern Mediterranean. The Red Sea is generally saltier and more nutrient-poor than the Atlantic, so the Red Sea species have advantages over Atlantic species in the salty and nutrient-poor Eastern Mediterranean. The construction of the
Aswan High Dam across the
Nile River in the 1960s reduced the inflow of freshwater and nutrient-rich silt from the Nile into the eastern Mediterranean, which has made conditions there even more like the Red Sea. This species exchange is known as the
Lessepsian Migration, after
Ferdinand de Lesseps, the engineer who oversaw the canal's construction.
Mediterranean Subracial Type
The term "Mediterranean" also refers to a subtype of the Caucasian race, contrasting with Alpine and Nordic. The type is most evident in southern Europe.
See also
*
Seaports of Valencia (Spain)
*
Mediterranean Basin
*
Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and shrub
*
Mediterranean sea (
oceanography term)
*
List of islands in the Mediterranean
*
Familial Mediterranean fever
*
History of the Mediterranean
*
Holy League (Mediterranean)
*
Inland Sea, which is sometimes named the Japanese Mediterranean Sea
*
Suez Canal
External links
-
Planblue - Environment and Development in the Mediterranean Region
{{Commons|Category:Mediterranean Sea}}
{{Mediterranean}}
{{Template:Region}}
Category:Marine ecoregions
Category:Mediterranean *
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ang:Wendelsǣ
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an:Mar Mediterranio
ast:Mar Mediterraneu
bg:Средиземно море
zh-min-nan:Tē-tiong-hái
be:Міжземнае мора
bs:Sredozemno more
br:Mor Kreizdouar
ca:Mar Mediterrà nia
cs:Středozemnà moře
cy:Y Môr Canoldir
da:Middelhavet
de:Mittelmeer
et:Vahemeri
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es:Mar Mediterráneo
eo:Mediteraneo
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ga:An Mheánmhuir
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ka:ხმელთ�შუ� ზღვ�
sw:Bahari ya Mediteranea
la:Mare Mediterraneum
lt:Viduržemio jūra
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hu:Földközi-tenger
mk:Средоземно Море
mt:Baħar Mediterran
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nds:Middelmeer
ja:地ä¸æµ·
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pt:Mar Mediterrâneo
ro:Marea Mediterană
ru:Средиземное море
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sr:Средоземно море
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vi:Ä?ịa Trung Hải
tr:Akdeniz
uk:Середземне море
wa:Mîtrinne Mer
zh:地ä¸æµ·
: ''For the mediterranean sea between
Europe and
Africa, see the
Mediterranean Sea.''
A '''mediterranean sea''', in
oceanography, is a mostly enclosed sea that has limited exchange of deep water with outer
oceans and where the water circulation is dominated by
salinity and temperature differences rather than winds.
There are two types of mediterranean sea. A concentration basin has a higher salinity than the outer ocean due to evaporation, and its water exchange consists of inflow of the fresher oceanic water in the upper layer and outflow of the saltier mediterranean water in the lower layer of the connecting
channel (geography) channel.
A dilution basin has a lower salinity due to freshwater gains such as rainfall and rivers, and its water exchange consists of outflow of the fresher mediterranean water in the upper layer and inflow of the saltier oceanic water in the lower layer of the channel. Renewal of deep water may not be sufficient to supply
oxygen to the bottom.
List of mediterranean seas
The mediterranean seas of the
Atlantic Ocean:
* The
Mediterranean Sea (or ''the Eurafrican Mediterranean Sea'' or ''the European Mediterranean Sea''): including the
Black Sea, the
Sea of Azov, and the
Sea of Marmara.
* The
Arctic Ocean (or ''the Arctic Mediterranean Sea'')
* The American Mediterranean Sea: the combination of the
Gulf of Mexico and the
Caribbean Sea.
*
Baffin Bay
* The
Baltic Sea
The mediterranean seas of the
Indian Ocean:
* The
Persian Gulf
* The
Red Sea
The mediterranean sea between the Indian and
Pacific Oceans:
* The Australasian Mediterranean Sea: the sea enclosed by the
Sunda Islands and the
Philippines, including the
Banda Sea, the
Sulu Sea, the
Sulawesi Sea, the
Java Sea, etc.
The Red Sea and the Persian Gulf are concentration basins. The Eurafrican Mediterranean Sea is also a concentration basin as a whole, but the Black Sea and the
Adriatic Sea are dilution basins due to the
Danube,
Don River, Russia Don, and
Dnieper River Dnieper Rivers and the
Po River respectively. Other mediterranean seas are dilution basins.
Hudson Bay is so shallow it functions like a huge
estuary. Having shallow channels and deep basins, the
Sea of Japan could form a mediterranean sea, but the strong currents from the Pacific prevent it from having an independent water circulation.
See also
*
Ocean
*
Marginal sea
References
Matthias Tomczak and J. Stuart Godfrey. 2003. ''Regional Oceanography: an Introduction''. (see [http://www.es.flinders.edu.au/~mattom/regoc/ the site])
Category:Oceanography
Category:Seas
ko:지중해 (해양학)
ja:地ä¸æµ· (æµ·æ´‹å¦)
nn:innhav
pl:Morze śródlądowe
*** Shopping-Tip: Mediterranean sea
