Page 196 - NS-2 Textbook

MARITIME GEOGRAPHY 191

shelves. Great sediment beds extend far to sea from the There is danger of large-scale pollution in the
mouths of the Nile River in Egypt, Rhone (Ron) River in Mediterranean. 111is pollution threatens to destroy the
France, and Ebro (E'-bro) River in Spain. balance of life in the sea. Overfishing is likewise making
The Mediterranean basin is one of the most active some kinds of fish scarce in some m'eas. The man-made
volcanic areas in the ,varid. There are at least eleven ac- pollution is worsened by the fact that this sea is almost
tive volcanoes in the Aegean (I-je' -an) Sea, in a belt from totally landlocked. It loses by evaporation almost three
Athens to Rhodes. Four of these are islands, and the oth- runes as much -water as it gets from rainfall and runoff
ers are submerged. Many more lUlderwater volcanoes from land. Only the flow of water from the Atlantic
are in the western Mediterranean, to the north and V\Test keeps the sea at the same level over time. 11,ere is also a
of Sicily, and arOlUld the Balearic (Bal-e-ar' -ik) Islands small flow from the Black Sea through the Turkish straits.
and Corsica. The whole Mediterranean area, and espe- An example of humans' effect on the ecology of the
cially Greece, Turkey, and Yugoslavia, often has large eastern Mediterranean can be seen by looking at the
earthquakes. The pressures between the Eurasian and changes that have taken place there since 1970. In that
African geological plates push in on the sea from both year, a high dam was completed across the Nile at Aswan
sides. Volcanic lava from the interior of the Earth wells (A-swan'), Egypt. 111is stopped the seasonal flood of
up with huge pressure, causing volcanoes and earth- fresh water and plant food into the sea by way of the
quakes at the fauit line where these plates meet. Nile. Because of this, a fishing industry that had existed
The Black Sea is located above Turkey on the eastern since the dawn of Western civilization has now almost
end of the Mediterranean, between Europe and Asia. It ceased to exist near the mouth of the Nile.
has an area of about 180,000 square miles, with maxi- Ports alld Naval Bases. The Mediterranean was the
mlUn depths of slightly over 7,000 feet. It connects with cradle of Western civilization. For nearly seven thousand
the Mediterranean through the Turkish straits and the years, there has been recorded histOlY in the eastern
Sea of Marmara. In many respects it is a landlocked salt- Mediterranean. Egypt, Crete, Phoenicia (Fi-nish' -e-a),
water lake, whose mineral content has gotten so high Greece, and finally Rome led the parade of culture and
that it supports little life except in the surface layers. trade across the sea in ancient times. The Romans called
Some scientists have speculated that it was formed by the Mediterranean Mare Nostrll1ll f which means 1/ our sea. U
overflow from the Mediterranean when the ice melted During the Middle Ages, Christian and Muslim cul-
after the last ice age some 10,000 years ago. Its forma- tures clashed in the Crusades. The clash ended in what
tion may have given rise to the story of the great flood can be thought of as a geographic compromise: Chris-
in the Bible, and perhaps to the legend of the sinking of tians settled to the north and west in Europe, and Mus-
Atlantis. Recent photography of the bottom by remote- lims settled to the south and east in Africa and Asia.
controlled submersibles has found evidence of ancient The Mediterranean Sea has always been velY impor-
land-based habitation. tant to the cOlUltries around it. It is still so today. Great
Minerals. No readily accessible mineral deposits have port cities are located in all of the cOlmtries bOlUlding the
been located in the Mediterranean. Far below the sedi- Mediterranean coast: Barcelona and Valencia in Spain;
ments on the sea floor, however, drillers have found large Marseilles (Mar-sa),,) in France; Genoa, Naples, and
beds of rock salt, sulfur, potash, and gypsum. All would Venice in Italy; Piraeus (Pi-re'-as), the port of Athens,
be valuable for the chemical and fertilizer industries. At Greece; Istanbul (Is-tan-boo!,), Turkey; Beirut (Ba-root'),
the present time these minerals can be mined only from Lebanon; Haifa (Hi' -fa) and Tel Aviv (Tel' a-v;;v'), Israel;
deposits on Sicily and other islands. Alexandria, Egypt; Algiers (AI-jirz'), Algeria; Odessa
Oil wells are being drilled offshore along the Adriatic (O-des'-a) on the Black Sea arm in Ukraine; and a host of
coast of Italy, in the Gulf of Gabes off Tunisia, and off the others.
Nile delta in Egypt. Although geologic studies seem to 11,e ports and countries arolmd the Mediterranean
indicate that there is oil and natmal gas along much of are familiar places to sailors, world politicians, and
the Mediterranean coastline, there is no equipment at tourists. There are many naval bases in the Mediter-
present that can reach the depths necessary to get it. ranean. The main Spanish base is at Barcelona, a favorite
Fishing. The Mediterranean basin supports a fishing port of call for u.s. naval ships. 11,e principal French
industry twice as valuable as that of any ocean. Catches base is at Toulon (Too-Ion'), near the beautiful Riviera
bring high prices because most Mediterranean peoples cities of Nice (Nes) and Cannes (Kiln), also favorite places
consider fish a luxury food, like steak. Thousands of for u.s. Sixth Fleet sailors. The Italian navy's headquar-
small fishing boats bring in small catches. Hake, sale, red ters is at La Spezia (La Spa'-tsya), and its fleet's biggest
mullet, and many other species of fish have a recorded southern base is in Taranto (Ta' -ran-to).
catch in excess of a million tons each year. The total catch 111e Southern Command of NATO has its headquar-
is probably much larger, since many local fishermen do ters near Naples, with another important base at Izrnir
not report an accurate number. (Iz-mir'), Turkey. The home port of the flagship of the