Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1979

Abstract

In the brief review, the authors discuss the origin and evolutionary pattern of the Mediterranean Sea and its environs, The concept of seafloor spreading, as woven into the earlier proposal of continental drift, provides a scientific basis for the theory of plate tectonics. This theory explains the physiography and geological characteristics of the Mediterranean Basin. which S viewed as e "hollow" caught between the colliding African Plate to the south, the Furasian Plate to the north, and the Arabian Subplate to the east. Within the basin and around it, interactions of numerous microplates control the shape of the andmasses and their destinies. The perspective from space provides an cffective tool with which we can study not nly the landmasses that surround the Mediterranean but also its water currents and their sediment dispersal patterns. Use of space data will help in the continuing research to further unravel the plate movements of the past and help us formulate models of future changes. Such predictions are vital to economic development because, although the Medi- terranean region has already provided much oil and gas for human nceds, the area's pe- troleum potential remains vast. Many features such as river-delta deposits, continental- shelf regions, subtle traps (stratigraphic, unconformity, and palcogeomorphic), and buried salt domes have not been adequately explored. We belicve that the application of the mod- orn concepts of geology and geophysics will result in the location of additional oil and gas resources in the Mediterranean region.

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