About the Mediterranean

Geologists once thought that the Mediterranean was a tiny remnant of the Tethys Sea, the great ocean that once separated the world’s northern and southern continents. In fact, the Black Sea is the only remnant of the Tethys in Europe. The Mediterranean has a far briefer but more complex history. Essentially, the Mediterranean is a deep basin between the converging tectonic plates of Europe, Anatolia, and Africa, and the eastern, central, and western Mediterranean have different geological histories, which is why today, the east is earthquake prone, the centre is dotted with active volcanoes, and the west is relatively quiet.

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