Bradley Wignall

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In biogeography , the Mediterranean drainage basin ( MED-ih-tə-RAY-nee-ən ) , also known
as the Mediterranean Sea Region or sometimes Mediterranea , is the part of lands around
the Mediterranean sea that have mostly a Mediterranean climate , with balmy to cool ,
showery wintertime and lovesome to live , dry summers , which supports characteristic
Mediterranean Sea wood , timberland , and scrub vegetation .It was a very important role of
Mediterranean civilizations .== geographics == The Mediterranean Basin covers part of
three continents : Europe , Africa , and Asia .It is distinct from the drain basin , which
extends much further south and north due to major rivers ending in the Mediterranean
ocean , such as the Nile and Rhô ne .Conversely , the Mediterranean Sea river basin includes
regions not in the drainage catchment basin .It has a varied and contrasting
topography .The Mediterranean Region offers an changing landscape painting of senior high
school mountains , bouldered shoring , impenetrable scrub , semi-arid steppes , coastal
wetlands , sandy beaches and a myriad of islands of various bod and sizes dotted amidst the
clear Amytal sea .Contrary to the classic arenaceous beach range portrayed in most tourist
brochures , the Mediterranean is surprisingly hilly .flock can be seen from almost
anywhere .By definition , the Mediterranean lavatory extends from Macaronesia in the
west , to the Levant in the East , although some places may or may not personify included
depending on the view , as is the case with Macaronesia : some definitions only include
Madeira and the fink Islands while others include the whole Macaronesia ( with the Azores
and mantle Verde ) .In Western Asia , it covers the western sandwich and southern portions
of the peninsula of Anatolia , as far as Republic of Iraq , but excluding the temperate-climate
good deal of exchange Turkey .It includes the Mediterranean Levant at the eastern goal of
the Mediterranean , bounded on the east and Confederacy by the Syrian and Negev
deserts .The northern portion of the Maghreb realm of northwestern Africa has a
Mediterranean mood , separated from the Sahara Desert , which extends across North
Africa , by the Atlas Mountains .In the eastern Mediterranean the Sahara Desert extends to
the southern shoring of the Mediterranean , with the exception of the northerly fringe of the
peninsula of Cyrenaica in Libya , which has a prohibitionist Mediterranean Sea
climate .Europe lies to the Frederick North of the Mediterranean .The European
circumstances of the Mediterranean Basin loosely corresponds to Southern European
Economic Community .The three large southerly European peninsulas , the Iberian
Peninsula , Italian Peninsula , and the Balkan Peninsula , extend into and comprise much of
the Mediterranean-climate zone .A system of close up great deal , including the Pyrenees
dividing Spain from France , the the Alps dividing Italian Republic from Central Europe , the
Dinaric alp along the eastern Adriatic Sea , and the Balkan and Rila-Rhodope mountains of
the Balkan Peninsula divide the Mediterranean Sea from the temperate climate regions of
Western , Northwestern or Northern Europe , telephone exchange European Union , and
Eastern European Economic Community .== Geology and paleoclimatology == The
Mediterranean Sea Basin was shaped by the ancient collision of the northward-moving
African–Arabian continent with the unchanging Eurasian Continent .As Africa–Arabia
moved north , it closed the former Tethys ocean , which formerly separated Eurasia from
the antediluvian ace continent of Gondwana , of which Africa was part .At about the same
time , 170 genus Mya in the Jurassic menses , a little Neotethys ocean catchment area
formed shortly before the Tethys Sea was closed at the easterly end .The hit pushed up a
vast system of mountains , extending from the Pyrenees in Espana to the Zagros Mountains
in Persia .This sequence of pile building , known as the Alpine orogeny , occurred mostly
during the Oligocene epoch ( 34 to 23 million years ago ( mya ) ) and Miocene ( 23 to 5.3
Mya ) epochs .The Neotethys became great during these hit and associated protein folding
and subduction .About 6 Mya during the late Miocene , the Mediterranean was closed at its
westerly end by drifting Africa , which caused the intact sea to evaporate .There followed
several ( debated ) episodes of sea drawdown and re-flooding known as the Messinian salt
Crisis , which ended when the Atlantic last re-flooded the basin at the end of the
Miocene .Recent enquiry has suggested that a desiccation-flooding hertz may have repeated
respective clock time during the last 630,000 twelvemonth of the Miocene epoch , which
could excuse several events of enceinte amounts of salt deposition .Recent studies , however
, show that repeated desiccation and re-flooding is unlikely from a geodynamic peak of view
.The goal of the Miocene also marked a change in the Mediterranean Basin 's clime .Fossil
evidence shows that the Mediterranean catchment basin had a relatively humid subtropical
clime with summer rainfall during the Miocene epoch , which supported bay wreath
forests .The fracture to a Mediterranean mood occurred within the last 3.2–2.8 million years
, during the Pliocene date of reference , as summer rain decreased .The semitropic bay
wreath forests retreated , although they persisted on the islands of Macaronesia off the
Atlantic glide of Iberia and North Africa , and the face Mediterranean vegetation evolved ,
dominated by coniferous trees and sclerophyllous trees and shrub , with humble , voiceless ,
waxlike leaves that prevent moisture loss in the dry summers .Much of these wood and
shrublands have been altered beyond identification by thousands of age of human
habitation .There are now very few relatively inviolate cancel areas in what was once a
heavily wooded region .== Flora and animate being == Phytogeographically , the
Mediterranean lavatory together with the nearby Atlantic coast , the Mediterranean
woodlands and woods and Mediterranean dry woodland and steppe of North Africa , the
Black ocean glide of northeastern Anatolia , the southern coast of Crimea between
Sevastopol and Feodosiya in Ukrayina and the Black Sea coast between Anapa and Tuapse
in Russia forms the Mediterranean Floristic neighborhood , which belongs to the Tethyan
Subkingdom of the Boreal kingdom and is enclosed between the Circumboreal , Irano-
Turanian , Saharo-Arabian and Macaronesian floristic area .The Mediterranean Sea Region
was first proposed by High German botanist August Grisebach in the late 19th C .The
monotypic Drosophyllaceae , recently segregated from family Droseraceae , is the only if
plant life family endemic to the region .Among the autochthonal plant genera are : The
genera Aubrieta , Sesamoides , Cynara , Dracunculus , Arisarum and Biarum are nearly
endemic .Among the indigenous mintage prominent in the Mediterranean vegetation are
the Halab pine , gemstone pine tree , Mediterranean cypress , bay laurel , oriental person
sweetgum , holm oak tree , kermes oak , strawberry tree , Greek strawberry mark tree
diagram , mastic , terebinth , vernacular myrtle , oleander , Acanthus mollis and Vitex agnus-
castus .Moreover , many plant taxa are shared with one of the four neighboring floristic
regions only .According to different versions of Armen Takhtajan 's limning , the
Mediterranean Sea Region is further subdivided into seven to nine floristic province :
Southwestern Mediterranean Sea ( or southern Moroccan and Southwestern Mediterranean
Sea ) , Ibero-Balearian ( or Iberian and Balearian ) , Liguro-Tyrrhenian , Adriatic , East
Mediterranean Sea , due south Mediterranean and Crimeo-Novorossiysk .The
Mediterranean Basin is the largest of the world 's five Mediterranean timber , timberland ,
and scrub regions .It is home to a number of industrial plant community , which vary with
rainfall , meridian , latitude , and soil .Scrublands occur in the driest country , especially
areas near the seacoast where wind and salt spraying are frequent .downhearted , soft-
leaved scrublands around the Mediterranean are known as garrigar in Catalan , garrigue in
French , phrygana in Greek , tomillares in Spanish , and batha in Hebrew .Shrublands are
dumb thicket of evergreen sclerophyll shrubs and small trees and are the most common
plant residential area around the Mediterranean .Mediterranean shrublands are known as
mà quia in Catalan , macchia in Italian , Maquis in French , and `` matorral '' in Spanish .In
some post , shrublands are the maturate vegetation eccentric , and in other places the
solution of the abjection of previous forest or woodland by logging or overgrazing , or
disturbance by major flack .Savannas and grasslands occur around the Mediterranean ,
usually dominated by annual grasses .timberland are usually dominated by oak and pine ,
mixed with other sclerophyll and coniferous trees .Forests are distinct from woodlands in
having a close down canopy , and occur in the areas of mellow rainfall and in riparian zones
along rivers and streams where they receive summertime urine .Mediterranean forests are
generally composed of evergreen trees , predominantly oak and pine tree .