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.2 mediterranean [Latin mediterraneus, from medius middle + terra land — more at terrace entry 1] : enclosed or nearly enclosed with land It is a sea nearly as mediterranean as that which lies between Africa and Europe.. Phoenicians. The Phoenicians are identified as a loosely connected network of traders throughout the Mediterranean. Phoenician civilization flourished between 1550 and 300 BCE. The Biggest Mediterranean IslandsSicily. Without a doubt, Sicily is the largest island located in the Mediterranean Sea. …Sardinia. Another Italian island makes the list at number 2. …Cyprus. …Corsica. …Crete.Coon wrote that marked Mediterranean features included skin color ranging “from pink or peaches-and-cream to a light brown”, a relatively prominent and aquiline nose, considerable body hair, and dark brown to black hair. Calypso Deep, located in the Hellenic Trench, Ionian Sea 62.6 km south-west of Pylos, Greece, is the deepest part of the Mediterranean Sea, with a maximum depth of 5,267 m (17,280 ft), at 36°34′N 21°8′E .This biome contains evergreen broad-leaved and aciform trees, including: holm oaks, arbutuses, olive trees, laurels, carob trees, pine trees, junipers, cypresses and others. It also includes shrubby plants, for instance rock roses, mastic trees, myrtle and rosemary.From ancient times the Mediterranean Sea served as a great highway, linking the lands around its shores. It played an important role in the Roman Empire, in the rise of Italy's maritime* cities, and in the expansion of the Islamic world across northern Africa to Spain. Filling the MedThe modern Mediterranean, though, dates from 5.3 million years ago. About 5.6 million years ago, the Mediterranean basin was completely cut off from the Atlantic, and a warm, dry climate slowly evaporated most of the water leaving just a few very salty dregs in the lower parts of the basin, in what is called the Messinian Salinity Crisis. Then, 5.3 million years ago, the strip of land separating the Atlantic and the Mediterranean basin was suddenly breached through a 200 km (124 mile) wide channel across the Strait of Gibraltar. In a cataclysmic flood, called the Zanclean flood, water gushed through the breach at a rate that would totally dwarf the Amazon, with a velocity of some 300 km (186 miles) an hour. It filled the basin like a bath, adding 10 m (33 ft) to the water level every day and filling the entire Mediterranean in less than two years.Because 90 percent of the Mediterranean's water came in…
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