1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Mediterranean Sea

MEDITERRANEAN SEA. The Mediterranean is all that remains of a great ocean which at an early geological epoch, before the formation of the Atlanticyencircled half the globe along a line of latitude. This ocean, already diminished in area, retreated after Oligocene times from the Iranian plateau, Turkestan, Asia Minor and the region of the north-west Alps. Next the plains of eastern Europe were lost, then the Aralo-Caspian region, southern Russia and finally the valley of the Danube. The “ Mediterranean region, ” as a geographical unit, includes all this area; the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmora are within its submerged portion, and the climate of the whole is controlled by the oceanic influences of the Mediterranean Sea. Professor Suess, to whom the above description is due, finds that the Mediterranean forms no exception to the rule in affording no evidence of elevation or depression within historic times; but it is noteworthy that its present basin is remarkable in Europe for. its volcanic and seismic activity. Submarine earthquakes are in some parts sufficiently frequent and violent as seriously to interfere with the working of telegraph cables. Suess divides the Mediterranean basin into four physical regions, which afford probably the best means of description: (1) The western Mediterranean, from Gibraltar to Malta and Sicily, enclosed by the Apennines, the mountains of northern Africa and of southern and south-eastern Spain (Cordillére bétique). (2) The Adriatic, occupying the space between the Apennines and the Dinaric group (Suess compares the Adriatic to the valley of the Brahmaputra). (3) A part surrounded by the fragments of the Dinaro-Taurus arch, especially by Crete and Cyprus. This includes the Aegean and the Black Sea, and its margin skirts the south coast of Asia Minor. These three parts belong strictly to Eurasia. (4) Part of the coastal region of Indo-Africa, terraced downwards in successive horizontal planes from the Shot, reaching the sea in the Little Syrte, and continuing to the southern depressions of Syria. Malta and Gozo are the only islands of the Mediterranean which can be associated with this section, and, per contra, the mountain chain of north-west Africa belongs to Eurasia. Murray (1888) estimates the total area of the Mediterranean at 813,000 sq. m. Karstens (1894) breaks it up into parts as follows:-


Western Mediterranean 841,593 sq. km.

Sicilian-Ionian basin . 767,658, ,

Greece and Levant basin 769,652, ,

Adriatic Sea . 130,656, ,

Total . 2,509,559, ,

A more recent calculation by Kriimmel gives the total area as 2,967,570 sq. km. or 1,145,830 sq. m. (See OCEAN.) Murray estimates the total surface of the Mediterranean drainage area, with which must be included the Black Sea, at 2,934, 500 sq. m., of which 1,420,800 are Eurasian and 1,513,800 are African. The principal rivers entering the Mediterranean directly are the Nile from Africa, and the Po, Rhone and Ebro from Europe. f

The physical divisions of the Mediterranean given above hold good in describing the form of the sea-bed. The western Mediterranean is cut off by a bank crossing the narrow strait between Sicily and Cape Bon, usually known as the Adventure Bank, on which the depth is nowhere 200 fathoms. The mean depth of the western basin is estimated at 881 fathoms, and the deepest sounding recorded is 2040 fathoms. In the eastern Mediterranean the mean depth is nearly the same as in the western basin. The Sicilian-Ionian basin has a mean depth of 885 fathoms, and the Levant basin, 793 fathoms. Deep water is found close up to the coast of Sicily, Greece, Crete and the edge of the African plateau. The steepest slope observed occurs off the island of Sapienza, near Navarino, where 1720 fathoms has been obtained only 10 miles from land. In 1897 the ship “ Washington ” obtained depths of 2220 fathoms in the middle of the eastern Mediterranean; and the Austrian expeditions in the “ Pola ” discovered in the “ Pola Deep ” (35° 44' N., 21° 45 E.), south-west of Cape Matapan, a maximum depth of 2046 fathoms. Between these two deep areas a ridge runs in a north-westerly direction 550 fathoms from the surface-possibly a projection from the African plateau. Another bank 1100 fathoms from the surface runs south from the east end of Crete, separating the Pola Deep from the depths of the Levant basin, in which a depth of 1960 fathoms was recorded near Makri on the coast of Asia Minor. The later expedition of the “Pola” discovered the “ Rhodes Deep ” (36° 5' N., 28° 36' E.), with a maximum depth of 2110 fathoms: this deep is closed to the south-east by a ridge running south-east, over which the depth is 1050 fathoms. Off the coast of Syria the “ Pola ” obtained four soundings of more than 1100 fathoms, and between Cyprus and the coast of Asia Minor only two over 550 fathoms. Murray gives the following figures for the areas and volumes of the Mediterranean at different depths:-

Depth. Area. Volume.

Fathoms. Sq. Miles. Cub. Miles.

o- 100 201,300 80,950

100- 500 251,650 220,850

500-1000 81,300 189,200

1000*°2000 263,250 217,050

Over 2000 15,500 1,750

813,000 709,800

which .gives a mean depth over all of 768 fathoms. The following table is due .to Karstens:—Volume.

Mean Depth.

~ Cub. Km. Fathonis.

Western Mediterranean . 1,356,512 881

Sicilian-Ionian basin . . 1,242,549 885

Levant . 1,1 16,599 793

Adriatic Sea ..... 31,844 133

Kriirnmel gives the total volume of the basin as 4,249,020 cubic kilometres or 1,019,400 cubic statute miles, and the mean depth as 782 fathoms. (See OCEAN.)

Meteorology.-As already stated, the “Mediterranean region" forms a distinct climatic unit, chiefly due to the form and position of the Mediterranean Sea. The prevailing winds in this region, which the sea traverses longitudinally, are westerly, but the sea itself causes the formation of bands of low barometric pressure during the winter season, within which cyclonic disturbances frequently develop, while in summer the region comes under the influence of the polar margin of the tropical high pressure belt. Hence the Mediterranean region is characteristically one of winter rains, the distinctive feature becoming less sharply defined from south to north, and the amount of total annual fall increasing in the same direction. The climate becomes more continental in ty e from west to' east, but there are great local irre ularities-the el;- vated plateaus of Algeria and Spain cause a rise of pressure in winter and delay the rainy seasons: the rains set in earlier in the west than in the east, and the total fall is greater. Temperature varies greatly, the annual mean varying from 56° F. to 77° F. In the west the Atlantic influence limits the mean annual range to about I0°-I2° F., but in the east this increases to 36° and even 4O°. Autumn is warmer than spring, especially in the coastal regions, and this is exaggerated in the eastern region by local land winds, which replace the cool sea-breezes of summer: overcoats are ordinarily worn in Spain and Italy till July, and are then put aside till October. Local winds 'form an important feature in nearly all the coast climates of the Mediterranean, especially in winter, where they are primarily caused by the rapid change of tem erature from the sea to the snow-clad hinterlands. Cold dry windh, often of reat violence, occur in the Rhone valley (the Mistral), in Istria, and Dalmatia (the Bora), and in the western Caucasus. In summer a north-west “ trade” wind, the Maestro, occurs in the Adriatic. The Sirocco is a Cyclonic wind characteristic of the winter rainy season; in the Adriatic it is usually accompanied by cloud and moisture, often by rain. In Sicily and southern Italy the Sirocco occurs at all seasons; it is a dry, dusty'wind from south-east or south-west. The dust is chiefly of local origin, but partly comes from the Sahara. Similar winds are met with in S in (the Leveche), but they reach their Igreatest development in the Siimooms of Algeria and Syria, and the hamsin of Egypt.

Temperature.-The mean surface temperature of the waters of the Mediterranean falls from south-east, where it is over 70° F., to north-west, the average at the coast of the Gulf of Lyons being 607. The isothermal of 65° runs from Gibraltar to the north of Sardinia, and thence by the Strait of Messina to the Gulf of Corinth. A similar distribution is found 100 fathoms from the surface, temperature falling from 60° in the Levant to 55° east of Gibraltar. At 200 fathoms temperature falls in the same way from 8° to 55°, but below 250 fathoms temperatures are practically 'uniform to the bottom, 55-5° in the western basin and 56-5° in the eastern. The bottom temperature observed in the Pola Deep was 56~3°. Salinity—In the extreme west the salinity of the surface water is about 36-3 per mille, and it increases eastwards to 3726 east of Sardinia an 39°C and upwards in the Levant. Observations of salinity in the epths of the western Mediterranean are very deficient, but the avera e is probably between 38-0 and 38-5. In the eastern basin the “ Pola " expedition observed salinities of 38-7 to 39-0 to the east of a line joining Cape Matapan with Alexandria, and 38-2 to 38-7 to the west of it. The salter waters apparently tend to make their way westwards close to the African coast, an at the bottom the highest salinities have been observed south of Crete. 'Evnitzki states that the saltest water of the whole basin occurs in the Aegean Sea. A ' » .

Circulation.-There is little definite circulation of water withijl the Mediterranean itself. In the straits joining it with the Atlant1<§ and the Black Sea the fresher surface waters of these seas -flow inwards to assist in making good the loss by evaporation at the surface of the Mediterranean, and in both cases dense water makes its way outwards along the bottom of the channels, the outflowing currents being less in volume and delivery than the inflowing. Elsewhere local surface currents are developed, either drifts due to the direct action of the winds, or streams produced by wind action heaping water up against the land; but these nowhere rise to the dignity of a distinct current system, although they are often sufficient to obliterate the feeble tidal action characteristic of the Mediterranean. Dr Natterer, the chemist of the “ Pola " expeditions, has expressed 'the opinion that the poverty of the pelagic fauna is solely due to the want of circulation in the depths.

Deposits.—A great part of the bottom of the Mediterranean is covered with blue muds, frequently with a yellow upper layer containing a considerable proportion of carbonate of lime, chiefly shells of pelagic Foraminifera. In many parts, particularly in the eastern basin, a calcareous or siliceous crust, from half an inch to three inches in thickness, is met with; and Natterer suggested that the formation of this crust may be due to the production of carbonate of ammonium wherede osits containing organic matter are undergoing oxidation, and the consequent precipitation of carbonate of lime and other substances from the waters nearer the surface. This view, however, has not met with general acceptance.

(H. N. D.)