Produced in 2011 under the MIUR project "Dynamic Earth"
Directed by Marco Anzidei
Speaker: Clive Anthony Riche
The Mediterranean is an area of the Earth that has particularly preserved traces of the past evolution processes of our planet. Its geological history begins about 250 million years ago when the supercontinent Pangaea split into Laurasia and Gondwana continents, separated by the Tethys. Only in the following million years, the movement of continental plates would give to the Mediterranean its present shape. The modern Mediterranean Sea, with its 22,500 km of coastline and 4,000 km in length from Gibraltar to the Levant, occupies 2.5 million square kilometers, representing 1% of the Earth seas. Its geological history, conditioned by the movements of the African and Eurasian continental plates and subducting lithosphere led to the formation of mountain ranges that border the basin, which reaches depths well over 5000 m. Today the Mediterranean is not only a vital hydrological system for more than 30 million people who live along its shores, but also one of the most complex tectonic areas of the Earth. This area is still experiencing major geophysical and geodynamic processes and is a natural laboratory for scientists to measure its physical and chemical parameters. Volcanic eruptions and earthquakes indicate that this region is among the most active areas of the Earth, where major disasters occurred throughout its history. Disasters as the Bronze Age eruption of Santorini or Vesuvius in 79 AD or strong tsunamis, as that of Crete in 365 AD or Messina in 1908, causing casualties and severe damages along the coast. The major tectonic and climate variations have caused large sea level changes, capable of drying up the entire Mediterranean basin or flooding the Black Sea, thus influencing human activity throughout history.
Marco Anzidei is Senior Researcher at INGV. His work focuses in geophysical geodesy in seismic and volcanic areas, sea level changes. Author of more than 170 scientific publications, mainly on the Mediterranean region.
This documentary has been selected and awarded by national and international film festivals.