Page 440 - (DK) Ocean - The Definitive Visual Guide

438 A B C D E F

0˚ 10˚E
LIECHTENSTEIN AUSTRIA
SWITZERLAND
SLOVENIA
1 Venice Trieste
Adige Gulf of Rijeka
Rhône Genoa
FRANCE Po Venice
Gulf of SAN MARINO
Nice Genoa
Sète Marseille Livorno Ancona Dalmatia
Côte d’Azur MONACO
Ligurian Sea
Toulon ITALY
A d r i a t i c S e a
Isole
Rhône d’Elba Tevere Pescara
ANDORRA Fan 1,830m Corsica VATICAN CITY
Costa Brava (6,004ft) Ajaccio Rome
Barcelona Sardinia–Corsica Trough
2 ROCK OF GIBRALTAR Balearic Basin Tyrrhenian Naples
The port of Gibraltar is situated on a narrow peninsula near the Ebro Sardinia Salerno
Mediterranean’s exit to the Atlantic. It is an important naval base, 40˚N Fan Valencia Trough Minorca Sea Vavilov
controlled by Britain since Spain ceded sovereignty in 1713. Golfo de Palma Seamount
Valencia Cagliari Sardinia Terrace Tyrrhenian Marsili
Valencia Mallorca Majorca s Seamount
B a l e a r i c I s l a n d
Basin Ibiza Algerian Basin Basin Strait of
Channel
Messina
PORTUGAL Alicante Cabo de Formentera Messina
SPAIN La Nao 2,860m
Cartagena 1,740m (9,384ft) Cap Blanc Palermo Catania
Costa Cabo de Palos (5,709ft) Strait of Sicily Sicily
Malaga Blanca Bizerte Cap Gela Basin
Strait of Cabo de Gata Algiers Annaba Tunis Bon Siracusa
Malta
3 Gibraltar Gibraltar Costa del Sol Cap Ferrat Béjaïa Halk El Plateau
Alboran Sea Sousse Menzel Bank Malta Trough
ATLANTIC Tanger Ceuta Oran TUNISIA MALTA
Malta Channel
Melilla Sfax
OCEAN Medina
Golfe de Tunisian Melita Bank
Gabès Gabès Plateau Bank 104m
MOROCCO (341ft)
ALGERIA
Tripoli
SCALE
4 0 100 200 300 400 500 km
LIB YA
0 100 200 300 400 500 miles
0˚ 30˚N 10˚E
A B C D E F

The Mediterranean Sea ATLANTIC OCEAN H3 and starts to sink after cooling by
winter winds. It then returns westward,
Eastern exiting through the Strait of Gibraltar
and Black Sea Mediterranean about 150 years after entering. The
sea floor is dominated by the
Mediterranean Ridge, a result of
THE MEDITERRANEAN IS AN ALMOST enclosed sea, with high AREA 637,000 square miles (1.65 million square km) compression between the convergent
MAXIMUM DEPTH 16,720 ft (5,095 m) African and Eurasian plates. These
evaporation and salinity, a very small tidal range, and a complex
INFLOWS Black Sea; Adige, Nile, Po rivers sediments are older—70 million years
floor. The adjacent Black Sea is the last remnants of the Tethys compared with 25 million years in the
Ocean, which closed as Africa converged with Eurasia. The eastern and western parts of the western Mediterranean. The Adriatic
Mediterranean are separated by Sicily Sea is a shallow branch of the eastern
in the western Mediterranean. At and the submerged Malta and Tunisian Mediterranean. Rising sea levels at the
ATLANTIC OCEAN D2 depth there is a strong undercurrent of plateaus. The eastward flow from the end of the last ice age flooded valleys
ATLAS OF THE OCEANS AREA 328,000 square miles (850,000 square km) many seamounts and ridges. A chain the Ionian, Aegean, and Adriatic seas. VENICE LAGOON
western Mediterranean continues
Western
outflowing salty water. The flat floors
parallel to its eastern shore, giving rise
of the Algerian and Balearic basins
to the islands of the Dalmatian coastline.
along the African coast, and a
Mediterranean
counter-clockwise circulation prevails
are underlain by deep sediments. In
contrast, the Tyrrhenian Sea contains
in the eastern Mediterranean, and in
Venice was built in the shallow waters of a
MAXIMUM DEPTH 11,800 ft (3,600 m)
of active volcanoes (including Etna,
Surface water becomes more saline
lagoon in the Adriatic. Its merchants grew rich
by controlling access to the Silk Route.
through evaporation as it travels east,
Stromboli, and Vesuvius) is found on
INFLOWS Atlantic Ocean; Ebro, Rhône rivers
the sea’s eastern margin, where the
African Plate is subducting beneath
The entire Mediterranean loses three
times more water by evaporation
the Eurasian Plate. The eastward flow
of surface water continues through
than it gains from rainfall and rivers
the Strait of Sicily into the eastern
combined. This loss is balanced by
a surface inflow from the Atlantic
Mediterranean. The narrower Strait of
Messina, between Sicily and mainland
through the Strait of Gibraltar. The
Italy, is notorious for its whirlpool,
inflow continues as an eastward current
along the north African coast, giving
possibly the inspiration for the Greek
mythological sea monster Charybdis.
rise to a counterclockwise circulation