The Mediterranean:: Mare Nostrum of Earth sciences

The Mediterranean area is one of the most appealing natural laboratories in the world to study geodynamic and paleoclimatic processes on different scales. Consequently, the Mediterranean Sea can be considered as the Mare Nostrum ('our sea') of Earth sciences. Its semi-enclosed land-locked configuration in a convergent setting between Africa in Europe, in combination with its latitudinal position, makes the Mediterranean extremely suitable to study both fundamental plate tectonic processes and astronomically induced oscillations in climate. For many years to come, the Mediterranean will certainly remain a fascinating area, where an integrated and multi-disciplinary approach will increasingly contribute to our understanding of geological, geophysical, geodetical and geochemical processes in an accurate and high-resolution time-frame. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.