Straits of Sicily

Beccaluva L, Colantoni P, Di Girolamo P, Savelli C (1981) Upper-Miocene submarine volcanism in the Strait of Sicily (Banco Senza Nome). Bull Volcanol 44 573-581... 

Hoemle K, Behncke B, Schmincke H-U (1996) The geochemistry of basalt from the Iblean Hills (Sicily) and the Island of Linosa (Strait of Sicily) evidence for a plume from the lower mantle. Goldschmidt Conf, J Conf Abstr 1 264 www.the-conference.com/JConfAbs/l/264.html Hofmann AW (1997) Mantle geochemistry the message from oceanic volcanism. Nature 385 219-229... 

The concentration of dissolved nutrients in the deep waters of the Eastern Mediterranean is much lower than those in other oceans of the world, and when these are mixed into the surface waters they support very low primary productivity. The basic reason for this ultra-oligotrophic status is that the Mediterranean has an anti-estuarine (reverse thermohaline) circulation in which nutrient-depleted surface waters flow into the western basin at the Straits of Gibraltar and then on into the eastern basin at the Straits of Sicily. The deeper counter current consists of Levantine Intermediate Water (LIW) which contains a significant amount of dissolved nutrients. 

The Mediterranean is situated at the northern boundary of the desert climatic belt. As a result there is a significant net loss of water from the basin. The Mediterranean in general, and the Eastern Mediterranean in particular, has a large excess of evaporation over precipitation. This results in an anti-estuarine (reverse thermohaline) circulation. Low salinity water flows into the Mediterranean basin from the eastern North Atlantic. This water flows in within the upper water layers at the Straits of Gibraltar. The salinity of this surface water is 36.15. The surface water moves to the west generally following the coast of North Africa. It then flows through the Straits of Sicily. However, the flow of... 

The Straits of Sicily represent a physical barrier which lies at the entrance to the Eastern Mediterranean. It is approximately 500 m deep and represents a significant control on the biogeochemical processes occurring within the eastern basin. There also is an anti-estuarine circulation through these straits because evaporation exceeds precipitation in the eastern basin. A surface and subsurface flow of modified Atlantic waters, low in nutrients, flows eastwards into the eastern basin while LIW with relatively higher nutrients flows westwards out of the basin. This is the fundamental feature that causes the Eastern Mediterranean as a whole to be oligotrophic. 

Table 4.3 Calculated net flux of nitrate and phosphate out of the Eastern Mediterranean through the Straits of Sicily...

Stanley D. J., Maldonado A. and Stuckenrath R. (1975) Strait of Sicily depositional rates and patterns, and possible reversal of currents in the late Quaternary. Paleogeogr. PaleoclimatoL Paleoecol. 18, 279-291. 

Several hundred municipalities are faced with the highest seismic risk in the Strait of Messina (including eastern Sicily) and southern Calabria (the Aspromonte) areas. The Apennine Mountains, which form the backbone of the Italian peninsula, are, in a tectonic sense, divided into blocks, which means that seismicity varies significantly from one locality to another. However, the vulnerability of buildings, including schools. 

In Fig. 7, in three separated maps, all thrust (in red), strike-slip (in green), and extensional (in blue) focal mechanisms are shown these views help to study at larger scale the active tectonic styles. Thrust beach balls represent the compressive tectonic style and their distribution shows where the boundary between tectonic plates collides. This type of deformation occurs along a nearly continuous and narrow zone in Northern Africa, from Morocco to Northern Sicily, with two interruptions at the Gibraltar Strait (Fig. 6c) and south of Sardinia. Another continuous part of the tectonic boundary characterized by compressive features is along the eastern part of the Adriatic Sea, along Dinarides and Hellenides belts and partially around the Hellenic Trench. Other minor regions characterized by a compressive deformation are in the Northern Apeimines and around Cyprus Island. 

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