The Physical Geography of the Mediterranean

THE OXFORD REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTS SERIES

PUBLISHED

The Physical Geography of Africaedited byWilliamM. Adams, Andrew S. Goudie, and Antony R. Orme

The Physical Geography of North Americaedited by Antony R. Orme

The Physical Geography of Northern Eurasiaedited by Maria Shahgedanova

The Physical Geography of Southeast Asiaedited by Avijit Gupta

The Physical Geography of Fennoscandiaedited by Matti Seppl

The Physical Geography of Western Europeedited by Eduard A. Koster

The Physical Geography of South Americaedited by Thomas T. Veblen, Kenneth R. Young, and Antony R. Orme

FORTHCOMING

The Physical Geography of the British Islesedited by Adrian Parker

The PhysicalGeography of theMediterranean

edited by

JamieWoodward

1

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The physical geography of the Mediterranean / edited by JamieWoodward.p. cm. (Oxford regional environments series)

ISBN 97801992680301. Physical geographyMediterranean Region. 2. Mediterranean RegionGeography.I. Woodward, Jamie C.GB178.P48 2009508.31822dc22 2009005674

Typeset by SPI Publisher Services, Pondicherry, IndiaPrinted in Great Britainon acid-free paper byCPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham,Wiltshire

ISBN 9780199268030

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Frontispiece. A reconstruction of ancient Sparta on the alluvial plain of the Evrotas River in southern Greece. The view looks to the westto the peaks of Mount Taygetos. Reproduced with permission from an illustration by J. P. Mahaffy published in 1890.

. . . theMediterranean cant be reduced down to one landscape or one lifestyle. Could there be amore tenuous link than that whichbonds, upon its shores, the luxuriant landscapes of the coast and the arid deserts inland? . . .TheMediterranean lover can recognisethe imperceptible variations that alter the texture of a valley, the hue of a city, and the quite special light of a particular bay. Butour ideas about the Mediterranean are stubborn. Its diversity doesnt stop us from seeing a Mediterranean nature, climate andlandscape at work all over. (Girard, 2001, p. 36)

Girard, X. (2001),Mediterranean: from Homer to Picasso. Assouline, New York.

For Sam and Alex

Foreword

The Physical Geography of the Mediterranean is the eighth in a series of advanced booksthat is being published by Oxford University Press under the rubric of Oxford RegionalEnvironments.The aim of the series is to provide a durable statement of physical conditions on each

of the continents, or major regions within those continents. Each volume includes adiscussion of the systematic framework of the region (for instance, tectonism, climate,biogeography), followed by an evaluation of dominant environments (such as moun-tains, forests, and deserts) and their linkages, and concludes with a consideration of themain environmental issues related to the human use and misuse of the land (such asresource exploitation, agricultural and urban impacts, pollution, and nature conserva-tion). While books in the series are framed within an agreed context, individual booksseek to emphasize the distinctive qualities of each region.We hope that this approachwillprovide a coherent and informative basis for physical geography and related sciences, andthat each volume will be an important and useful reference source for those concernedwith understanding the varied environments of the continents.

Andrew Goudie, University of OxfordAntony Orme, University of California, Los Angeles

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Preface and Acknowledgements

Scholars have been fascinated by the Mediterranean environment since classical times.The Mediterranean, including the sea itself and the climates, landscapes, and ecosystemsaround it, forms one of the most intensively studied natural laboratories on Earth andrecent years have seen remarkable advances in our understanding of many compo-nents of its physical geography. These advances have come from the efforts of countlessresearchers in many disciplines. This book explores the evolution and functioning of theMediterranean environment by drawing upon findings derived from studies of modernprocesses as well as data from long records of change. It assesses the main drivers of envi-ronmental change (including tectonic processes and climate change) and their effectswith particular emphasis on the glacial-interglacial cycles of the Quaternary ice age.Several chapters also draw upon sedimentary, archaeological and historical records toexamine the nature of human-environment interactions during the postglacial period inorder to explore the role of humans in shaping the landscapes and habitats we see today.This book examines these processes and the key debates, and places natural hazards andcurrent environmental issues in long term context.The physical geography of the Mediterranean involves a big canvas and a vast lit-

erature. This book is the first modern synthesis of the physical geography of the entireMediterranean region and it was conceived, from the outset, as a multi-authored volumeand as an international, multidisciplinary team effort. It incorporates the talents andexperience of thirty five scholars who, between them, have direct field experience in allof the countries that border the Mediterranean Sea and in all of the major islands andmarine basins within it. Many of the contributors are the leaders in their fields. Thisbody of expertise gives this volume an authority that could not be attained by a single-authored text. The twenty-three chapters are organised into four main partseach withan Editorial Introduction that draws out major themesunder the following headings:

I. The Physical and Biological Framework (Chapters 1 to 5)II. Process and Change in Specific Environments (Chapters 6 to 14)III. Hazards (Chapters 15 to 19)IV. Environmental Issues in the 21st Century (Chapters 20 to 23)

This bookwill appeal to all scholars and students of geography, Earth science and ecologywho are involved in the study of the Mediterranean and all who are interested, morebroadly, in Mediterranean environments, geomorphology, natural hazards, Quaternaryenvironmental change, biodiversity and conservation, and the human impact on thenatural environment. The last decade has seen the publication of several excellent bookson the history and prehistory of the Mediterranean world and something of a revivalin considering the entire region as a unit of study. Research into the human past inthe Mediterranean cannot be separated from an understanding of the opportunities andconstraints offered by such a dynamic (and often hazardous) and varied environment. Ihope, therefore, that this bookwill also have wide appeal to archaeologists and historiansof the Mediterranean world and to all who are interested, more generally, in human-environment interactionsespecially over extended timescalesInteracting with so many authors and disciplines has been a challenging but hugely

rewarding experience and I would like to offer my warmest thanks to all the authorsfor their contributions and for their patience and cooperation during the review-ing process and the final editorial and production stages. Before final editing, all

x Preface and Acknowledgements

twenty-three chapters were formally reviewed by the editor and by at least one externalreviewer and I would like to thank the following for their generous help in this task: CliveAgnew (Manchester), Harriet Allen (Cambridge), Nick Ambraseys (London), Grant Bigg(Sheffield), Louise Bracken (Durham), Rob Bryant (Sheffield), David Chester (Liverpool),Jacques-Louis de Beaulieu (Marseilles), Simon Davis (Lisbon), Mick Frogley (Sussex),Dick Grove (Cambridge), Philip Hughes (Manchester), Ian Lawson (Leeds), Mike Leeder(Norwich), John Lewin (Aberystwyth), Sarah Lindley (Manchester), Donatella Magri(Milan), Allen Perry (Swansea), Rick Shakesby (Swansea), Heather Viles (Oxford), DesWalling (Exeter), Tony Waltham (Nottingham), and Kathy Willis (Oxford). Jeff Black-ford, Karen Exell, Philip Hughes, John Lewin, and Chris Perkins also provided helpfulcomments on the four Editorial Introductions. In the early stages of this project the serieseditors, Andrew Goudie and Antony Orme, provided very helpful feedback on the initialbook proposal. I am also grateful for the support of my colleagues at the University ofManchester and to Tim Allott (Head of Geography) who provided funding to cover thecosts of translating Chapter 21. Avi Gupta provided wise words of supportespecially inthe early stages when his volume, The Physical Geography of Southeast Asia, was nearingcompletion. I am also very grateful to Anne Ashby, Dominic Byatt, Lizzy Suffling, andLouise Sprake at Oxford University Press who have provided valuable advice and encour-agement at various stages. I would also like to thank Sylvie Jaffrey and Debbie Sutcliffefor all their help at the copy-editing and proof checking stages.Of the many people who have helped along the way getting this book to publication, I

would especially like to thank Nick Scarle from the Cartographic Unit at the University ofManchester. Nick managed the figure and photograph database for this book and redrewmost of the maps and figures from scratch. This was a huge undertaking, but as thefigures and photographs arrived inManchester fromdistant lands via email, CD, and hardcopy (at least two were barely decipherable scans of sketches made on paper napkins)Nick prepared them for publication with his trademark expertise and endless patienceand good humour. I would also like to thank GrahamBowden in the Cartographic Unit atManchester who worked on the figures in Chapters 13 and 17. I would also like to thankJohn Prag at the Manchester Museumwho provided the source book for the frontispiece.My own research in the Mediterranean began in 1986 during my Ph.D. research in

Cambridge on the Klithi Project in north-west Greece directed by Geoff Bailey (Bailey,1997). I was fortunate at that time to cut my teeth in the field with Mark Macklin andJohn Lewin and our collaborations have continued ever since. I am delighted that theywere able to co-author chapters with me in the current volume. I must also thank allthe undergraduate students at Leeds and Manchester who either took one of the vari-ous incarnations of my final year course on Mediterranean Quaternary Environmentsor participated in the field course to south-east Spaintheir comments and feedbackhave helped to shape this book. I am also extremely grateful to the following researchstudents who have participated in Mediterranean adventures: George Christopolos,Graham Smith, Rob Hamlin, Suzanne Hewitt, Maroulia Zorzou, Philip Hughes, MikeMorley, and Rose Wilkinson. My research in the Mediterranean has involved collabo-ration with many projects and individuals and I have been fortunate to receive supportand encouragement frommany colleagues. I would especially like to thank the following:Geoff Bailey, Graeme Barker, Alex Chepstow-Lusty, Ian Foster, Mick Frogley, Clive Gam-ble, Philip Gibbard, David Gilbertson, Paul Goldberg, Dick Grove, Philip Hughes, TakisKarkanas, Mike Kirkby, Eleni Kotjabopoulou, Mike Krom, Henry Lamb, John Lewin,MarkMacklin, Rolfe Mandel, Mark Pluciennik, Jim Rose, Nick Shackleton, John Thornes,Charles Turner, Chronis Tzedakis, Claudio Vita-Finzi, Richard West, Bob Whallon, andMartinWilliams.I would also like to pay a special tribute to John Thornes who died in the summer of

2008 when this book was in the final stages of production. John was an inspirational

Preface and Acknowledgements xi

figure in physical geography who was passionate about the Mediterranean, its people,and its geomorphology. For many years John coordinated and led the MEDALUS projectsfunded by the European Union and his research teams produced many key insights intoland degradation and river basin processes in the semi-arid Mediterranean. John wrotetwo chapters for this book (one of them co-authored with me and Francisco Lpez-Bermdez) and it was a great pleasure to be able to work closely with him throughout. Hewas a stimulating, supportive, and generous collaborator and I hope that he would havebeen pleased with this book.Finally I must thank Jenny, Sam, and Alex for their love and support.

J. W.ManchesterNovember 2008

ReferenceBailey, G. N. (ed.) (1997), Klithi: Palaeolithic Settlement and Quaternary Landscapes in Northwest Greece(2 vols.)McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Cambridge.

The authors, editor, and publisher thank the following who have kindly given permission for themodification and use of copyright material:

Frontispiece: Ancient Sparta in Greek Pictures, p. 173, J.P. Mahaffy (1890) published by the ReligiousTract Society. Reproduced with permission from Lutterworth Press.

Fig. 1.7: from Junta de Andaluca Ortofotografa digital de Andaluca (ISBN 84-95083-96-5) withpermission.

Figs. 3.3(a) and (b): from Futures for the Mediterranean Basin: The Blue Plan, 67, Grenon and Batisse(1989) with permission from Oxford University Press.

Table 3.4: from http://natural-hazards.jrc.ec.europa.eu/activities_flood_flashflood.html with permis-sion from Jutta Thielen-del Pozo at JRC European Commission.

Figs. 5.1, 5.3, 5.6, 5.11, 5.12, 5.15, 5.17, 5.20 and Table 5.1: from Biology and Wildlife of the Mediter-ranean Region, Blondel and Aronson (eds.) (1999) with permission from Oxford University Press.

Fig. 6.3: from Catena 40, 317, The effect of land parameters on vegetation performance and degree oferosion under Mediterranean conditions, Kosmas et al. (2000) with permission from Elsevier.

Fig. 6.4: from Catena, 28, 157169, Soils in the Mediterranean region: what makes them different?Yaalon (1997) with permission from Elsevier.

Fig. 6.9: from Soil and Tillage Research 85, 123142, Assessment of tillage erosion by mouldboardplough in Tuscany (Italy), De Alba et al. (2006) with permission from Elsevier.

Fig. 6.11: from Geomorphology 13, 8799, Short and long term effects of bioturbation on soil erosion,water resources and soil development in an arid environment, Yair (1995) with permission fromElsevier.

Fig. 6.12: from Mechanisms of overland flow generation and sediment production on loamy and sandysoils with and without rock fragments, Poesen et al. in Overland Flow Hydraulics and Erosion Mechanics,Parsons and Abrahams (eds.) (1992) with kind permission from Professor Jean Poesen.

Fig. 6.13: Reproduced with kind permission from Juan Puigdefbregas.

Fig. 6.16: fromGeomorphology 26, 239251, Factors underlying piping in the Basilicata region, south-ern Italy, Farifteh and Soeters (1999) with permission from Elsevier.

Fig. 6.18: from Geoderma 105, 125140, Soil erosion caused by extreme rainfall events: mapping andquantification in agricultural plots from very detailed digital elevation models, Martnez Casasnovaset al. (2002) with permission from Elsevier.

Fig 6.20: Earth and Planetary Science Letters 195, 169183, Power-law correlations of landslide areasin central Italy, Guzzetti et al. (2002) with kind permission from Fausto Guzzetti and Elsevier.

xii Preface and Acknowledgements

Fig. 6.22: from Engineering Geology 70, 109130, Instability conditions of marly hillslopes: towardslandsliding or gullying? The case of the Barcelonnette Basin, south east France, Maquaire et al. (2003)with permission from Elsevier.

Fig. 6.23: from Engineering Geology 58, 89107, Landslide fatalities and the evaluation of landslide riskin Italy, Guzzetti (2000) with permission from Elsevier.

Fig. 6.24: from Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment 59, 8797, History of the 1963Vaiont slide: the importance of geological factors, Semenza and Ghirotti (2000) with permission fromElsevier.

Fig 7.2: from Israel Journal of Botany 39, 481508, Global change: vegetation, ecosystems, and landuse in the southernMediterranean basin by themid 21st century, Le Houerou (1990) with permissionfrom LPP Ltd.

Fig 7.5: from The study of plant groupings in the countries surrounding the Mediterranean: somemethodological aspects, Quzel, 8793, in Ecosystems of the World, vol. 11 Mediterranean-type Shrub-lands, di Castri et al. (eds.) (1981) with permission from Elsevier.

Fig 7.6: frommaterials in: (1) theAtlas dArologie PrimditerranenneDaget, (1980) (Maison dedition:Institut de Botanique, Montpelier) with permission from the author; (2) Definition of the Mediter-ranean region and the origin of its flora, Quzel, 824, inPlant Conservation in theMediterraneanArea, inGmez-Campo (ed.) (1985) with permission from Springer (Kluwer); (3) The Holocene 1, 157161, Therecent distribution of Pinus brutia: a reassessment based on dendroarchaeological and dendrohistoricalevidence from Israel Biger and Liphschitz (1991) with permission from Hodder Headline.

Fig 7.13: from The Holocene, p.190 Roberts (1998) with permission from Blackwell.

Fig 8.2: from Futures for the Mediterranean Basin: The Blue Plan, p. 28, Grenon and Batisse (1989) withpermission from Oxford University Press.

Fig 8.3: from Futures for theMediterranean Basin: The Blue Plan, p. 221, Grenon and Batisse (1989) withpermission from Oxford University Press.

Fig. 8.8: from Geoderma, 15, 6170, Vegetal cover to estimate soil erosion hazard in Rhodesia, Elwelland Stocking (1976) with permission from Elsevier Science

Table 8.1 from Journal of the Geological Society, London 162, 879908, Recent evolution of a Mediter-ranean deltaic coastal zone: human impacts on the Inner Thermaikos Gulf, Kapsimalis et al. (2005)with permission from The Geological Society of London.

Fig. 8.16: from Erosion and sediment yield in mountain areas of the world Dedkov and Moszherin,2936, in Erosion, Debris Flows and Environment in Mountain Regions of the World, Walling et al. (eds.)IAHS Publication No. 209 (1992) with permission from The International Association of HydrologicalSciences Press.

Fig. 10.12: from Catena Supplement 25, p. 88, Environmental change and human impacts on theMediterranean karsts of France, Italy and the Dinaric region, Gams et al. (1993) with permission fromCatena Verlag.

Fig. 10.13(a) and (c): from Zeitschrift fr Geomorphologie 22, 17081, The Polje: The problems ofits definition, Gams (1978) with permission from Gebrder Borntraeger Science Publishers (Berlin-Stuttgart).

Figs. 10.15, 10.16(a) and (c): with permission from Dr TonyWaltham.

Fig 10.20: from Catena Supplement 25, p. 8, Environmental change and human impact on karstterrains, Williams (1993) with permission from Catena Verlag.

Fig 11.2(a): from Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society, 32, 1-29, The climate, environment and indus-tries of Stone Age Greece: Part II, Higgs and Vita-Finzi (1966) with permission from The PrehistoricSociety.

Fig 11.2(b): from The Mediterranean Valleys: Geological Changes in Historical Times, p. 92, Vita-Finzi(1969), Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, with permission from the author.

Fig 11.4(b): from The Mediterranean Valleys: Geological Changes in Historical Times, p. 10, Vita-Finzi(1969), Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, with permission from the author.

Preface and Acknowledgements xiii

Fig 11.13: from Journal of Field Archaeology, 17, 37996, Land use and soil erosion in Prehistoricand Historical Greece, van Andel et al. (1990). Reproduced from Journal of Field Archaeology withpermission of the Trustees of Boston University. All rights reserved.

Fig 11.14: from Palaeohydrological changes in theMediterranean region during the Late Quaternary,Benito p. 131, in Palaeohydology: Understanding Global Change,Gregory and Benito (eds.) (2003). Repro-duced with permission of JohnWiley & Sons Limited.

Fig. 11.16: from Catena 66, 14554, Past hydrological events reflected in the Holocene fluvial recordof Europe, Macklin et al. (2006) with permission from Elsevier.

Fig 11.20: from Journal of the Geological Society, London 162, 879908, Recent evolution of a Mediter-ranean deltaic coastal zone: human impacts on the Inner Thermaikos Gulf, Kapsimalis et al. (2005)with permission from The Geological Society of London.

Table 12.2: from Episodes: Journal of International Geoscience 28, 8592, A formal stratigraphicalapproach for Quaternary glacial records in mountain regions, Hughes et al. (2005) with permissionfrom the International Union of Geological Sciences.

Fig. 12.8: from Zeitschrift fr Gletscherkunde und Glazialgeologie 31, 199206, Little Ice Age glacierfluctuations in the Pyrenees, Grove and Gellatly (1995) with permission from the publishers: Univer-sittsverlagWagner, Innsbruck.

Fig. 12.9: from Little Ice Ages: Ancient andModern (Volume 1), p. 190, Grove (2004), London, Routledgewith permission from the publishers from Cengage Learning Services Limited.

Fig. 12.19: from Global and Planetary Change, 50, p. 94, Late Pleistocene glaciers and climate in theMediterranean, Hughes et al. (2006) with permission from Elsevier.

Table 13.1: from Futures for the Mediterranean Basin: The Blue Plan, p. 31, Grenon and Batisse (1989)with permission from Oxford University Press.

Fig. 13.1(a) and (b):maps designed byDr ThomasDewez based on the following datasets for topography(STRM30), bathymetry (ETOPO2), and earthquake locations (NEIC). Reproducedwith permission fromDr Thomas Dewez (BRGM), French Geological Survey, Orlans, France.

Fig. 13.3: from Littoral cells, Inman 594-599, in Encyclopedia of Coastal Science Schwartz (ed.) (2005).Reproduced with kind permission of Springer Science and Business Media and based on an originalfigure in: Proceedings of the 19th Coastal Engineering Conference, American Society of Civil Engineers, 2,160017, The Nile littoral cell and mans impact on the coastal zone of the southeastern Mediter-ranean, Inman and Jenkins (1984).

Fig. 13.5: from Quaternary Science Reviews, 24, 196988, Sea-level change in the Mediterranean sincethe LGM: model predictions for tectonically stable areas, Lambeck and Purcell (2005) with permissionfrom Elsevier.

Fig. 13.6: from Puglia 2003Final Conference Project IGCP 437, Sea level change at Capo Caccia(Sardinia) andMallorca (Balearic Islands) during oxygen isotope sub-stage 5e, based on Th/U datings ofphreatic overgrowths on speleothems, Tuccimei et al. (2003) and originally published in GeodinamicaActa 15, 11325, Phreatic overgrowths on speleothems: a useful tool in structural geology in littoralkarstic landscapes. The example of eastern Mallorca (Balearic Islands), Forns et al. (2002) withpermission from Elsevier.

Fig. 13.7: fromMarine Geology 167, 10526, Holocene tectonic uplift patterns in northeastern Sicily:evidence from marine notches in coastal outcrops, Rust and Kershaw (2000) with permission fromElsevier.

Fig. 15.12: Reproduced by kind permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library.

Figs.18.9(a) and (b): Reproduced by kind permission of the Centre Mditerranen de lEnvironment(http://www.cme-cpie84.org/)

Fig. 18.14: Reproduced by kind permission of the Conselleria de Medi Ambient del Govern de les IllesBalears.

Figs. 19.4 and 19.8: reproduced from open access data from the European Forest Fire InformationSystem (EFFIS) at the European Institute for Environment and Sustainability, EC Joint Research Centre:

xiv Preface and Acknowledgements

Figs. 20.1, 20.5 and 20.10: from Panarchy: Understanding Transformations in Human and Natural Sys-tems, Gunderson and Holling (eds.) (2002) with permission from Island Press, Washington.

Fig. 20.4: fromGeoderma, 15, 6170, Vegetal cover to estimate soil erosion hazard in Rhodesia, Elwelland Stocking (1976) with permission from Elsevier Science

Fig. 20.6(b): from The problem Kirkby, 116, in Soil Erosion, Kirkby and Morgan (eds.) (1980).Reproduced with permission of JohnWiley & Sons Limited.

Fig. 20.6(c): from The effect of land use on soil erosion and land degradation under Mediterraneanconditions, Kosmas et al. 5781, inMediterranean Desertification: A Mosaic of Processes and Responses,Geeson et al. (eds.). Reproduced with permission of JohnWiley & Sons Limited.

Fig. 20.9: from Erosion-vegetation competition in a stochastic environment undergoing climaticchange, Thornes and Brandt p. 314, in Environmental Change in Drylands: Biogeographical and Geomor-phological Perspectives, Millington and Pye (eds.) (1994). Reproduced with permission of John Wiley &Sons Limited.

Fig. 23.6: from Biology and Wildlife of the Mediterranean Region edited by Blondel and Aronson (1999)with permission from Oxford University Press.

Full references for these figures and tables have been included in their respective chapters. Credits forphotographs are given in the respective captions. While every reasonable effort has been made to traceand contact copyright holders, this has not always been successful. We apologize for any apparentnegligence. If this list contains errors or inconsistencies, please contact the editor so that these can becorrected in any future editions.

Contents

List of Figures xviiList of Tables xxxList of Contributors xxxii

I. The Physical and Biological Framework

Editorial Introduction 3JAMIE WOODWARD

1. Tectonic Setting and Landscape Development 5ANNE MATHER

2. The Marine Environment: Present and Past 33EELCO ROHLING, RAMADAN ABU-ZIED, JAMES CASFORD, ANGELA HAYES,AND BABETTE HOOGAKKER

3. The Climate System 69ANDREW HARDING, JEAN PALUTIKOF, AND TOM HOLT

4. Cenozoic Climate and Vegetation Change 89CHRONIS TZEDAKIS

5. The Nature and Origin of the Vertebrate Fauna 139JACQUES BLONDEL

II. Process and Change in Specific Environments

Editorial Introduction 167JAMIE WOODWARD

6. Weathering, Soils, and Slope Processes 169JOHN WAINWRIGHT

7. Vegetation and Ecosystem Dynamics 203HARRIET ALLEN

8. Hydrology, River Regimes, and Sediment Yield 229JOHN THORNES, FRANCISCO LPEZ-BERMDEZ, AND JAMIE WOODWARD

9. Lakes, Wetlands, and Holocene Environmental Change 255NEIL ROBERTS AND JANE REED

10. Karst Geomorphology and Environmental Change 287JOHN LEWIN AND JAMIE WOODWARD

11. River Systems and Environmental Change 319MARK MACKLIN AND JAMIE WOODWARD

12. Glacial and Periglacial Environments 353PHILIP HUGHES AND JAMIE WOODWARD

13. Coastal Geomorphology and Sea-Level Change 385IAIN STEWART AND CHRISTOPHE MORHANGE

14. Aeolian Processes and Landforms 415ANDREW GOUDIE

xvi Contents

III. Hazards

Editorial Introduction 433JAMIE WOODWARD

15. Volcanoes 435CLIVE OPPENHEIMER AND DAVID PYLE

16. Earthquakes 469STATHIS STIROS

17. Tsunamis 493GERASSIMOS PAPADOPOULOS

18. Storms and Floods 513MARA DEL CARMEN LLASAT

19. Wildfires 541FRANCISCO LLORET, JOSEP PIOL, AND MARC CASTELLNOU

IV. Environmental Issues in the 21st Century

Editorial Introduction 561JAMIE WOODWARD

20. Land Degradation 563JOHN THORNES

21. Water Resources 583JEAN MARGAT

22. Air Pollution and Climate 599JOS LELIEVELD

23. Biodiversity and Conservation 615JACQUES BLONDEL AND FRDRIC MDAIL

Index 651

List of Figures

1.1. (a) The Alpine Himalayan orogen in its global setting and (b) the maintectonic landform features of the Mediterranean 6

1.2. Simplified cross-section of subduction rollback 81.3. The present geodynamic framework of the Mediterranean 91.4. Seismic activity in the Mediterranean 121.5. Volcanic activity in the western Mediterranean over the last 33 Ma 131.6. Eastward migration of the topography in conjunction with the

eastward rollback of the subduction zone in the Apennines of Italythrough time 17

1.7. An example of alluvial fans from a faulted mountain front in theTabernas basin of south-east Spain 18

1.8. An example of well-developed badlands in Tortonian marls within theTabernas basin of south-east Spain 19

1.9. Volcanic activity and tsunami impact in the Aeolian Islands 201.10. Plate boundaries and the main poles of rotation 211.11. Oblique view of the Megara basin 221.12. Distribution of erosional and landslide features in relation to the 70 ka

river capture site in the Ro de Aguas basin, south-east Spain 241.13. Image of an active mass failure along the margins of the Ro de

Aguas valley 251.14. Schematic evolution of the valley systems of the Sorbas basin before

and after the 70 ka river capture 251.15. Surface lowering above the 70 ka river capture site depicted

in Figure 1.12 262.1. Map of the Mediterranean Sea 342.2. Longitudinal cross-section showing water mass circulation in the

Mediterranean Sea during the present-day winter 342.3. Surface water circulation in the Mediterranean Sea 352.4. Northern Hemisphere summer atmospheric circulation pattern 382.5. Schematic illustration of surface circulation in the Alboran Sea 412.6. Schematic illustration of the main gyres associated with Atlantic

surface flow 412.7. Typical salinity profiles for the western and eastern Mediterranean basins 422.8. Schematic illustration of the preconditioning, violent mixing, and deep

convection phases 432.9. Estimated sea surface salinity distribution for (a) the Holocene Climate

Optimum and (b) the Last Glacial Maximum 482.10. Annual sea surface temperature (SST) reconstructions for the

Holocene Climate Optimum and Last Glacial Maximum 492.11. Scanning electron microscope images of the carbonate shells of several

planktonic foraminiferal species that live in the Mediterranean Sea 502.12. Example of a laminated sapropel in a freshly opened sediment core 512.13. Schematic presentation of the changes in subsurface circulation

patterns between the present day and times of sapropel formation 52

xviii List of Figures

2.14. Phase relationships between the sapropel record and associated 18Orecord from core RC9-181 and the orbital cycles of precession andeccentricity 54

3.1. The location of the Mediterranean region in relation to the large-scaleatmospheric circulation 70

3.2. Seasonal temperature and rainfall variations at selected sites aroundthe Mediterranean 71

3.3. (a) Mean annual rainfall and (b) length of the dry season across theMediterranean basin 72

3.4. (a) Regions of cyclone genesis and dominant cyclone tracks in theMediterranean and (b) a TERRA satellite image of a cyclone centred onthe Ionian Sea 76

3.5. Composite graphs of annual, winter, and summer temperature in thewhole Mediterranean and the western, central, and eastern basins,19602000 81

3.6. Composite graphs of annual, winter, and summer precipitation in thewhole Mediterranean and the western, central, and easternbasins,19602000 82

3.7. Future changes in temperature and precipitation overthe Mediterranean 84

3.8. Future changes in (a) length of the summer drought and (b) maximumfive-day precipitation over the Mediterranean 85

4.1. Location of sites discussed in Chapter 4 904.2. Global oxygen isotope record based on data frommore than forty

DSDP and ODP sites 924.3. A section of the compiled oxygen isotope record of Figure 4.2 for the

interval 47 Ma 954.4. Northern Hemisphere palaeogeography and global vegetation maps

for selected time slices in the Tertiary 964.5. Summary pollen diagram showing the main taxa of the interglacial

succession during the Last Interglacial at Ioannina 1014.6. (a) Variations in 18O composition of benthic foraminifera in V19-30

in the East Pacific. (b) Variations in 18O composition of ice inGreenland Ice Sheet Project 2 record. (c) Variations inalkenone-derived sea surface temperatures in marine coreMD95-2043 from the Alboran Sea, western Mediterranean. (d)Interval of maximum lake levels of Lake Lisan, Dead Sea Transformarea. (e) Interval of Kastritsa beach deposits, Ioannina basin,north-west Greece. (f) Temperate tree pollen percentages curves fromIoannina 1284, Kopais k93, central Greece 105

4.7. June insolation for 65 N and variations in 18O compositionof benthic foraminifera over the last 3 Myr in the Shackleton06 (S06) composite record from sites in the equatorial EastPacific 106

4.8. SPOT imagery of the Ioannina basin and surrounding areas showingthe extent of topographical variability in the region 108

4.9. Location of some Mediterranean pollen records from wetland sitesspanning all or part of the LGM, with inferred refugial tree populations 110

4.10. Serial extinction of a number of genera in Europe 1114.11. Variations in 18O composition of benthic foraminifera in the S06

composite record and arboreal pollen percentages at TenaghiPhilippon, north-eastern Greece 114

List of Figures xix

4.12. Variations in 18O composition of benthic foraminifera in the S06composite record over the interval 9601,340 ka 118

4.13. Variations in 18O composition of ice in Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2record, and of planktonic foraminifera in core MD95-2042 from thePortuguese margin; variations in alkenone-derived sea surfacetemperatures in western Mediterranean; temperate tree pollenpercentages in marine core MD95-2043 from the Alboran Sea,Ioannina I-284, Kopais K93, and Tenaghi Philippon TF II, Greece 121

5.1. The four quadrants of the Mediterranean region 1405.2. The Lesser kestrel Falco naumanni, a typical but declining species found

in old cities and craggy areas in the Mediterranean 1415.3. Phylogeography of the Brown bear 1435.4. The Brown bear Ursus arctos 1445.5. The Ibex Capra ibex 1455.6. Patterns of invasion of the Mediterranean basin and western Europe

by the house mouse 1475.7. Biogeographical origin of the bird fauna of the Mediterranean region 1485.8. The Fan-tailed warbler Cisticola juncidis 1495.9. Four species of warbler that are typical of Mediterranean matorrals

where they evolved: the Mediterranean warbler Sylvia melanocephala;the Subalpine warbler S. cantillans; the Dartford warbler S. undata; andMarmoras warbler S. sarda 150

5.10. The Rock partridge Alectoris graeca 1515.11. Relationships between the three main groups of Mediterranean

warblers (genus Sylvia) and their geographical range 1525.12. The zonation of the various vegetation belts in the western

Mediterranean area in relation to both altitude and latitude 1535.13. Examples of nest types for terns and waders that can be found on small

islets within Mediterranean lagoons between April and July 1535.14. The Blue tit Cyanistes caeruleus 1545.15. The Mediterranean as a key place for migratory and wintering birds 1555.16. The Short-toed eagle Circaetus gallicus 1565.17. Pygmy hippos and elephants 1575.18. Turnover of non-volant mammal species in Corsica as a result of

human colonization around 9,500 years ago 1585.19. The very large and beautiful Eyed lizard Lacerta lepida 1595.20. Levels of endemism of freshwater fish of the large peninsulas of the

northern part of the Mediterranean basin 1596.1. Potential climatic controls on weathering processes 1706.2. Gorges of the River Hrault in south-west France 1726.3. Comparison of soil depths as measured in different climate zones and

on different lithologies on the island of Lesvos 1756.4. Processes leading to the formation of iron oxides and thus the

development of brown (goethite) and red (haematite) soils 1766.5. Spatial distribution of soils in the Mediterranean basin according to the

FAO classification scheme 1776.6. Examples of typical soil profiles from the Mediterranean 1786.7. Examples of splash pillars forming on marls (the Terres Noires) near

Propiac, south-east France 1806.8. Examples of the development of patchy vegetation representing

islands of fertility, from the Montpellier Garrigue, southern France 181

xx List of Figures

6.9. Measured soil displacements as a result of tillage erosion using amouldboard plough in Tuscany 182

6.10. Accelerated erosion related to slope-parallel tillage invineyards in southern France, following the storms of1213 November 1999 183

6.11. Soil production by isopods and porcupines on hillslopes at SedeBoquer, southern Israel 184

6.12. Comparison of relative interrill erosion rates as a function of amountand type of rock-fragment cover of the soil surface 185

6.13. Aerial photograph of Stipa tenacissima vegetated slopes at the RamblaHonda, southern Spain 186

6.14. Rills formed during the extreme rainfalls of 22 September 1992 insouth-eastern France 187

6.15. Badlands at Tabernas, Almera, Spain 1876.16. Map of observed pipes showing the extent of subsurface erosion in the

Agri basin, southern Italy 1886.17. Linked pipe and gully erosion, Murca, Spain 1896.18. Map of erosion and deposition following an extreme storm event of

215 mm in Catalonia, Spain in June 2000 1906.19. Examples of different types of mass movement 1916.20. Landslide inventories for areas in central Italy 1926.21. Large rock slides in the valley of the River Guadalfeo, Granada, Spain 1936.22. Idealized evolution of ground-surface properties and surface instability 1946.23. Analysis of landslide events that resulted in fatalities in Italy 1956.24. Details of the Vaiont landslide disaster 1967.1. Mediterranean vegetation communities and trajectories of change 2047.2. Bioclimatic life zones of the Mediterranean region 2057.3. Invasion of sclerophyllous maquis vegetation into an

old olive orchard, Crete 2077.4. Typical garrigue vegetation in Crete 2087.5. Extent of maquis communities across the Mediterranean region 2097.6. Distribution maps for circum-Mediterranean taxa, Olea europea subsp.

oleaster, Arbutus unedo, Cistus salvifolius, Lavandula stoechas, andvicariant taxa, Quercus ilex and Q. calliprinos, Pinus halepensis, P. brutia,Quercus suber, and Cercis siliquastrum 210

7.7. Cistus ladanifer-dominated scrub vegetation of the Algarve, Portugal 2117.8. Theoretical degradation and regeneration sequences for primary

maquis or sclerophyllous evergreen shrub communities 2127.9. The typical hedgehog shape of the alpine, Euphorbia acanthothamnos,

growing among rocky scree of the Psilorites Mountains, Crete 2137.10. Olive terraces on Crete 2157.11. Basal regrowth of Arbutus unedo in the spring of 2004, following fire in

the summer of 2003, Monchique, southern Portugal 2197.12. A goat browsing on Quercus coccifera, Psilorites, Crete 2217.13. Spread of evergreen sclerophyllous vegetation across the

Mediterranean region during the Holocene 2248.1. An upland river catchment in the mountains of north-west Greece 2308.2. The water balance of the Mediterranean region showing the major

fluxes between the main components of the hydrological cycle 2318.3. Total annual runoff from river basins in each country bordering the

Mediterranean Sea 232

List of Figures xxi

8.4. Eaglesons decomposition of the annual water balance for catchmentsin different climatic settings 233

8.5. Rainfall regimes in the Mediterranean region 2348.6. The seasonally dry gravel-bed channel of the Voidomatis River

upstream of the Vikos Gorge in north-west Greece 2358.7. Average monthly flows for rivers around the Mediterranean basin 2368.8. The relationship between relative runoff and vegetation canopy cover 2378.9. The species used by Garcia-Ortiz in her study of rainfall partitioning by

different Mediterranean plants 2388.10. Flood flows and erosion in Mediterranean catchments 2398.11. Stone-walled terraces on hillslopes near Campanet in central Majorca 2408.12. A water cistern directly under the former Greek agora in

Ptolomais, Libya 2418.13. (a) A newly built check dam in the Sugura River basin, south-east

Spain, (b) a sediment-filled reservoir, Valdeinfierno, Murcia, Spain,and (c) oblique air photograph of the town of Puerto Lumbreras andthe Rambla Nogalte in the aftermath of the large flood in October 1973 242

8.14. Map of the Segura River basin (18,800 km2), and the impact ofreservoir construction on the monthly distribution of flows in theSegura River, Murcia, south-east Spain 243

8.15. The Ro Aguas at Urra in the Sorbas basin, Almeria, south-east Spain,in flood and dry 245

8.16. Suspended sediment yield from river basins in mountain environmentsin different climate and vegetation zones 246

8.17. (a) Gully erosion in soft sediments in central Israel, and (b) a veneer offresh suspended sediments deposited within the channel zone of theTorcicoda River, central Sicily 247

8.18. Suspended sediment yield fromMoroccan river catchments formed indifferent rock types 248

9.1. Maps showing: (a) Mediterranean type climates; (b) the location of thelargest lakes in the circum-Mediterranean region; (c) exemplar laketypes; (d) location of selected key Holocene palaeolimnological sites 256

9.2. Lake Pamvotis, Ioannina basin, north-west Greece: an example of afreshwater lake in a karstic intermontane landscape 262

9.3. Meke Tuzlas , a hypersaline lake occupying a Late Pleistocene crateron the Anatolian plateau, with a new volcanic cone rising throughthe middle 262

9.4. Skadar, the largest freshwater lake in the Balkans 2649.5. Lago di Pergusa, a small shallow circular lake on Sicily 2649.6. Ternary diagram showing the major chemical anion composition of

fifty-seven inland lakes in Spain 2659.7. The Dead Sea 2669.8. Comparative oxygen-isotope curves for three East Mediterranean lake

records 2699.9. Key selected palaeolimnological indicators and inferred record of

Holocene lake-level change in the Laguna de Medina, Cdiz,south-west Spain 270

9.10. Stratigraphic changes in major pollen types from Birket Ram showingmidlate Holocene cultural and vegetation change in the GolanHeights, along with catchment erosion indicated bymagnetic susceptibility. 271

xxii List of Figures

9.11. Lakes with contrasting catchment land uses and aquatic ecology inthe Middle Atlas region of Morocco: (a) Tigalmamine and (b) Sidi Ali 273

9.12. Twentieth-century catchment land use and diatom algae speciescomposition from the recent sediments of five Middle Atlas lakes 273

9.13. (a) Numbers and areas of MediterraneanBlack Sea Ramsar sites bycountry, and (b) location of selected coastal wetlands and otherthreatened sites 275

9.14. The Huleh basin, Israel, showing wetland extent before and aftermid-twentieth-century drainage reclamation 277

9.15. Burdur, a saline lake occupying a tectonic basin in south-west Turkey 2789.16. Late twentieth-century urban expansion of Istanbul into the

catchments of the ekmece coastal lagoons 27910.1. The distribution of the major outcrops of carbonate rocks (limestones,

dolomites, and marble) in the Mediterranean region 28810.2. Steep limestone slopes in Kotor Bay on the coast of Montenegro 28910.3. Bedding planes and joints in Mediterranean limestones 29110.4. Large-scale solution channels in limestone in a formerly glaciated

valley, Durmitor Massif, Montenegro 29210.5. Geography students from the University of Manchester

exploring the cave systems in the gypsum of the Sorbasbasin in south-east Spain 293

10.6. The tectonic setting for the deposition and deformation ofMediterranean limestones 294

10.7. The development of vadose and phreatic cave systems in a karstdrainage system 296

10.8. A typical karst system in the Mediterranean region showing materialinputs, stores, and outputs and associated processes in the vadose andphreatic zones 297

10.9. Features produced by the precipitation of calcium carbonate in karstenvironments in Majorca, Spain 299

10.10. Fine-grained sediment outputs from a Mediterranean karst system 30010.11. The vertical zonation of karst landscapes and processes in European

folded mountain regions 30210.12. Two forms of intentional humanmodification to hillslopes in karst

environments in the Dinaric region 30310.13. (a) The distribution of poljes in the Dinaric karst region. (b) The

formation of three types of poljes under varying structural andhydrogeological conditions 304

10.14. Two limestone gorges at different stages of development in theMediterranean region 306

10.15. Relict karst pinnacles in theWhite Desert of Egypt 30710.16. Three landscape features in the Mediterranean produced by the

precipitation of secondary carbonates 30810.17. Karst terrain in north-east Majorca showing bare limestone slopes and

thick terra rossa soils on the valley floor 30910.18. Rockshelter and cave entrance environments can form important

sediment sinks and represent a major archaeological resource 31110.19. A high resolution oxygen isotope record (18O) from speleothems in

Soreq Cave, Israel, spanning the last 140,000 years 31310.20. Human activities in the Mediterranean region and their potential

impact on non-karst and karst terrains 314

List of Figures xxiii

11.1. A building under excavation at the archaeological site of Olympia inthe valley of the Alfios River in the western Peleponnese, Greece 320

11.2. (a) The Quaternary sediments of the Louros Valley in Epirus,north-west Greece. (b) The temporal record of channel and floodplaindeposition and incision 322

11.3. Large boulders on the bed of the channel of the Voidomatis River in theVikos Gorge of north-west Greece 324

11.4. (a) View looking across the coastal plain in Cyrenaica (north-eastLibya) showing the lower course of theWadi Zewana. (b) Blockdiagrams showing the evolution of the Late Pleistocene and Holocenealluvial stratigraphy at a trunk stream tributary confluence in wadisystems in Libya 326

11.5. (a) The lower course of theWadi Zewana showing a c.25m thickexposure in Late Pleistocene alluvium. (b) A section showing the LatePleistocene river sediments with coarse-grained angular gravelsexposed at the base 327

11.6. Dated alluvial units in river systems across the Mediterranean regionbetween c.130 and 10 ka shown in association with two proxyclimate records 327

11.7. Dated alluvial units in river systems across the Mediterranean regionbetween c.65 and 10 ka 328

11.8. The Pleistocene and Holocene fluvial stratigraphy in the middle andlower reaches of the Voidomatis River basin 332

11.9. The sediments exposed during the excavations at Boila rockshelter inthe lower reaches of the Voidomatis River in north-west Greece 333

11.10. The deeply incised valley floor and Quaternary terraces of the RoAguas in south-east Spain 334

11.11. The Holocene alluvial sediments and terraces in the middle reaches ofthe Torcicoda River in central Sicily 336

11.12. The prosperity and depression model of slope stability and soilerosion 337

11.13. Patterns of Holocene alluviation in Greece for the last 8,000 years 33811.14. Patterns of fluvial aggradation and flooding in five Mediterranean

countries for the Holocene period 33911.15. (a) A summed probability plot for radiocarbon dates from Holocene

alluvial records in Spain (11 ka to present). (b) Probability plots foreach of the three alluvial depositional contexts shown. (c) Summedprobability plots based on the change and mid-point alluvial data setsand the bracketed slackwater flood deposits. (d) A summed probabilityplot for the radiocarbon dates from the slackwater sediments shown inrelation to the North Atlantic drift ice index 341

11.16. Probability difference curves of radiocarbon dates associated withmajor flooding episodes in Great Britain, Spain, and Poland 342

11.17. The flood record for the Aradena Gorge in south-west Crete between1840 and 2000 based on lichen dating of coarse-grained flooddeposits 343

11.18. Flood histories from five parts of the Mediterranean since AD 1500 34511.19. The deeply incised channel zone of the Alfios River in western Greece 34611.20. Summary of human impacts on the river channel systems in the lower

reaches and delta complex of the Axios, Aliakmon, and Gallikos riversin north-east Greece over the last century 347

xxiv List of Figures

12.1. Map of the Mediterranean showing the main mountain areas referredto in Chapter 12 354

12.2. (a) Snow accumulation to a depth of c.3m between the villages ofZabljak and Crna Gora in Montenegro. (b) Looking west from thesummit of Mount Orjen towards the summit of Subra, Montenegro 356

12.3. Map of the Zeleni Sneg glacier on Mount Triglav, Slovenia, depictingice retreat since the mid-nineteenth century 357

12.4. The Debeli Namet glacier on the northern slopes of Sljeme, Montenegro 35812.5. The effects of avalanching on beech trees on Mount Tymphi, Greece 35912.6. The distribution of currently glacierized areas in the Pyrenees 36012.7. Unglaciated periglacial surface covered in felsenmeer, Ouanoukrim,

Atlas Mountains 36112.8. Map of the Glacier dOssoue, the largest modern glacier in the Pyrenees 36312.9. Map of the glaciers of the Maladeta massif where some of the largest

modern glaciers in the Pyrenees are found 36412.10. Map of the former extent of Pleistocene glacial and nivation features in

the Mediterranean 36512.11. Moraines at c.1,700m a.s.l. in the Vourtapa valley above the village of

Skamnelli on Mount Tymphi, Greece 36612.12. Limestone pavement on Mount Tymphi, Greece 36712.13. Cemented till on Mount Tymphi, Greece 36812.14. Well-developed screes within the limits of Vlasian Stage glaciers on the

southern slopes of Mount Tymphi, Greece 37012.15. The extent of Middle and Late Pleistocene glaciers on Mount Tymphi, Greece 37112.16. Glacial geomorphological maps of Mount Olympus, north-eastern Greece 37212.17. Moraines at c.1,000 m a.s.l. in Duboki Do, above the village of Ubli on

Mount Orjen, Montenegro 37312.18. Glacial arte between the peaks of Sedlena Greda and Ranisava in the

Durmitor mountain area, Montenegro 37412.19. Summary pollen percentage curves from the Ioannina I-284 sequence

in north-west Greece, spanning the Last Glacial cycle 37713.1. Major tectonic structures and associated seismicity of the

Mediterranean region 38713.2. Coastal morphodynamics of the Mediterranean basins showing the

general near-surface water circulation pattern and the locations andattributes of the four major delta shelves 388

13.3. The Nile littoral cell extends along the south-eastern Mediterraneancoast from Alexandria, Egypt, to the Akhziv Submarine Canyon, Israel 389

13.4. (a) Elevation of the Last Interglacial shoreline. (b) Rates of lateHolocene crustal movement. (c) Predictions of global isostaticadjustment made for Mediterranean tide-gauge stations 391

13.5. Predicted relative sea levels and shorelines across the Mediterraneanregion at four epochs 392

13.6. Schematic representation of a littoral karst cave 39413.7. (a) Effects of variations of coastal-wave energy on marine-notch

formation. (b) A marine notch at Capo Milazzo in north-eastern Sicily 39513.8. The absence of a Holocene sea level above present datum is supported

by the evidence of painted horses on a wall of a half-submergedPalaeolithic cave near Marseilles 395

13.9. A schematic coastal profile showing the main characteristics ofbioconstruction and biodestruction on calcareous coasts in thewestern and eastern Mediterranean 396

List of Figures xxv

13.10. Age-depth diagram fromMarseilless archaeological excavationscompared with dated algal rims from nearby rocky cliffs 398

13.11. Measured relative sea-level changes in the old harbour of Pozzuolicompared to estimated relative sea-level changes usingbiological indicators 399

13.12. Recent relative sea-level variations in Antikythira island, Greece 39913.13. Tsunami activity in the Mediterrenean Sea 40013.14. Franchthi Cave in the south-east Peloponnese, Greece 40313.15. Historical records of coastal flooding for the Rivers Tiber and Rhne 40414.1. A map of some aeolian phenomena and locations in the

Mediterranean basin 41614.2. The passage of dust systems from North Africa to the Middle East,

mid-March 1998 41914.3. The TOMS sequence across North Africa to the Middle East for

mid-April 2000 42014.4. The loess of Matmata, southern Tunisia, has been inhabited by

cave dwellers 42114.5. Barchan dunes in the Libyan Desert, Kharga depression, Egypt 42214.6. Gypsum crust soils with polygonal structures in southern Tunisia 42314.7. The great lunette dune on the lee side of the Sebkha el Kelbia,

central Tunisia 42415.1. Map of the Mediterranean basin showing the locations of selected

volcanoes and volcanic provinces 43615.2. Volcanic hazards: Mt. Etna erupting in 2001 43815.3. Fumarolic and diffuse soil emissions on Vulcano (Italy) pose

a health hazard 44015.4. Map to show the extent of fallout from the Y5/Campanian

Ignimbrite eruption 44315.5. View of Herculaneum and modern Ercolano 44515.6. Plaster cast of one of Pompeiis victims 44615.7. Sequence of laminated deposits from pyroclastic density currents in

the Monte Guardia area of Lipari 44715.8. Stromboli volcano 44815.9. Volcano seen from Lipari 448

15.10. Aerial view of Mt. Etna rising above the city of Catania 44915.11. The town of Fira clinging to the rim of Santorinis caldera 45115.12. Map of part of Santorini in c.1715, showing the Kameni islands after

the 1707 eruption 45215.13. (a) Map of Nea Kameni and Mikra Kameni, after the 186670

eruptions, and (b) hillshade digital elevation model of the present-daystatus of the Kameni islands 453

15.14. (a) The duration of eruptions on the Kameni islands since AD 1570,and (b) the heights of lava domes as a function of time elapsed duringan eruption for the 1866 and 1939 Kameni eruptions compared to thedomes of Mt. St Helens and St Vincent 455

15.15. Volcano monitoring and crisis response 45816.1. (a) Ruins of buildings in Verneuges, Provence, that were destroyed by

the 1909 Lambesc earthquake. (b) A tombstone from the ancientGreek town of Nikomedia, commemorating the death of two youngboys and their teacherin AD 120 470

xxvi List of Figures

16.2. Epicentres of shallow earthquakes in the Mediterranean, 196183 47216.3. Epicentres of earthquakes, 190065, and areas affected by historical

earthquakes in the eastern Mediterranean 47316.4. Plate boundaries in the eastern Mediterranean 47416.5. Seismicity across the Peloponnese 47516.6. Examples of earthquake damage to ancient buildings 47616.7. Faulting and river response during the 1980 earthquake

in southern Italy 47716.8. Rocks uplifted during the 1953 earthquakes, Ionian Islands 47716.9. Progressive rupturing of the North Anatolian Fault, 193999 478

16.10. Areas affected by the 1202, 1926, and 1927 earthquakes, easternMediterranean 479

16.11. (a) A normal fault produced by the 1954 earthquake in Thessaly.(b) Reverse faulting, folding, and uplift that dammed the Cheliff Riverduring the 1980 Al Asnam earthquake, Algeria. (c) Railway tracksoffset by strike-slip faulting during the 1999 Izmit earthquakein Turkey 481

16.12. Contours of uplift across western Crete resulting from the AD 365 event 48216.13. Response of a stream at Sougia, Crete, to an uplift during the AD 365

earthquake 48316.14. The effects of ground sliding, compaction, and perhaps liquefaction

following the 1783 earthquake in Calabria, Italy 48416.15. (a) A collapsed multi-storey building in Kalamata, Greece, following

the 1986 earthquake. (b) During the same event many traditionalbuildings were badly damaged but did not collapse 486

17.1. Co-seismic dip-slip motion along faults and tsunamigenesis near deepsea trenches 494

17.2. A schematic explanation of some of the tsunami terms used in Chapter 17 49417.3. (a) Tsunamigenic zones in the Mediterranean Sea. (b) Types of field

evidence for the occurrence of past tsunamis 49617.4. Important tsunamis reported for southern Italy 49717.5. Some of the damage caused by the Stromboli tsunami of

30 December 2002 49817.6. Important tsunamis along the Hellenic arc 49917.7. An excavated section showing palaeotsunami deposits in Dalaman,

south-west Turkey 50017.8. Important tsunamis in the Cyclades Islands in the southern Aegean Sea 50017.9. Palaeotsunami investigation within an archaeological excavation in

St George, in eastern Thera 50117.10. Detail of the tsunami deposits exposed and attributed to the 30

September 1650 volcanigenic tsunami 50217.11. (a) Important tsunamis in the Gulf of Corinth and the Maliakos Gulf.

(b) The coast prior to the large landslide that produced a tsunami inthe Gulf of Corinth, 1963 503

17.12. Important tsunamis in (a) the east and north Aegean Sea, (b) the Seaof Marmara, and (c) the Cyprus-Levantine Sea area 504

17.13. The frequency of tsunamis in the Mediterranean Sea as a function oflongitude and latitude, 1628 BC to AD 2003 506

17.14. The cumulative frequency and intensity of Mediterranean tsunamis asa function of time, 1628 BC to AD 2003 507

17.15. Relationship between between intensity and frequency of tsunamis forGreece, Italy, and the Mediterranean Sea 507

List of Figures xxvii

17.16. Tsunami intensity as a function of earthquake intensity andmagnitude for the entire Mediterranean Sea 509

18.1. (a) The key study areas of adverse weather phenomena in this chapter.(b) The key sites and river systems in north-east Spain and southernFrance cited in the text 516

18.2. The mean annual frequency of cyclones in the Mediterranean,summer and winter 517

18.3. Classification of cloud systems associated with heavy rainfall events inthe Mediterranean area 518

18.4. An example of the synoptic situation that produces heavy rainfall withcatastrophic floods in the western Mediterranean region 520

18.5. Rainfall distribution for a flood event of Type 2b, 68 November 1982 52218.6. Heavy rainfall that produced a flash flood event of Type 1, 3 April

1989 in the Pyrenees 52418.7. A flood event of Type 2a, 10 June 2000, in Catalonia 52618.8. Destruction of a road bridge by the Riera de la Magarola during the

flood event of 10 June 2000 52718.9. Some consequences of the flash flooding produced in the Gard region

of southern France, 8 September 2002 52718.10. A flood event of Type 3, 2130 January 1996, in Catalonia 52818.11. The relationship between maximum flow and average annual

catchment flow for river catchments in the Mediterranean andnon-Mediterranean regions of Europe 529

18.12. The record of catastrophic floods in Catalonia since the earlyfourteenth century 531

18.13. A Levante wind storm that affected Catalonia, 1618 October 2002 53218.14. The destruction of forests in the Balearic Islands by the western

Mediterranean superstorm of November 2001 53318.15. A tornado recorded in Barcelona, on 8 September 2005 53319.1. Fires in Mediterranean basin countries 54219.2. Temporal variation in (a) the number of fires per year and (b) the

area burnt 54319.3. The proportion of fires and of area burnt in relation to fire size, France 54419.4. The area burnt by forest fires in Portugal during 2003 54519.5. A fire scar at the base of a pine tree trunk in Catalonia, north-east Spain 54719.6. A conceptual model of factors influencing the area burnt in a region 54919.7. (a) Changes in summer climatic fire risk in Catalonia, and (b) the burnt

area in relation to the number of days with high fire risk 54919.8. Fire risk in Europe according to the Canadian FWI 55119.9. Burned forest in a highly populated area of Catalonia 552

19.10. A fire prevention sign in the uplands of Majorca 55419.11. An illustration of a fire regime model 55520.1. Different phases of the Holling and Gunderson adaptive cycle 56520.2. An application of the USLE for the Autonomous Region of Andalucia 56720.3. The EU erosion estimate for Spain 56820.4. Soil loss and runoff as a function of the proportion of ground covered

by a vegetation canopy 56920.5. A metaphor for a systems stable and unstable conditions 56920.6. (a) The relationship between sediment yield and annual effective

rainfall. (b) Estimated rates of erosion by wind and water. (c) Erosionfor field plots around the Mediterranean 570

xxviii List of Figures

20.7. The evolution of plant cover over time on abandoned plots in theSpanish Pyrenees 573

20.8. Runoff and sediment yield data for different land uses on regeneratedabandoned fields in the Spanish Pyrenees 573

20.9. Simulated response of vegetation to stochastic rainfall 57420.10. A nested set of adaptive cycles in time and space 57821.1. Distribution of potential annual runoff (effective precipitation) in the

Mediterranean basin 58421.2. The Mediterranean drainage network and river basins 58521.3. Natural renewable and exploitable water resources per country in the

Mediterranean basin 58821.4. Natural renewable water resources and real exploitable water

resources per inhabitant in the Mediterranean basin 58921.5. The exploitation index of natural renewable water resources across

the Mediterranean basin 59322.1. European air pollution emissions, 2000 60022.2. Widespread aerosol haze in the Mediterranean basin 60122.3. Schematic of air flows during MINOS, 2001 60222.4. Transport-time spectrum showing the period between release of air

pollutants and arrival in the upper troposphere 60422.5. Model-calculated ozone at the surface for the present and the

possible future 60522.6. Mean diurnal cycles of OH and NO3 radicals 60722.7. Mean particle composition during MINOS for fine and coarse

mode aerosols 60822.8. Diurnal mean, clear-sky radiative forcing during MINOS 60922.9. (a) Estimated historical SO2 emissions in Europe; (b) 5-year running

mean of Mediterranean SST anomalies 60922.10. Percentage changes in annual precipitation comparing low

and high SST 61023.1. The ten regional hotspots of the Mediterranean basin for plant

endemism and richness 61623.2. A montado in Portugal with cattle and charcoal burners 61723.3. Forest recovery on ancient terraces 61923.4. The last individual of a former forest of Juniperus thurifera in southern

Morocco 62023.5. Wetlands, among the most threatened habitats in the Mediterranean

region 62223.6. The crustacean branchiopod Triops cancriformiswith the rare

thrumwort Damasonium stellatum and the parsley frog Pelodytespunctatus, Camargue 623

23.7. A rare amphibian of temporary ponds of the western part of the basin,the Mediterranean newt, Triturus marmoratus 624

23.8. Urbanization of coastal areas threatens habitats and rare plantsand animals 625

23.9. (a) Mean laying date of the Blue tit Cyanistes caeruleus in mainland andCorsican habitats (b) Variation of clutch size in the Corsican andmainland habitats 626

23.10. Intense habitat degradation due to repeated fire events results in verylow scrubby vegetation and bare ground 627

23.11. Carpobrotus acinaciformis, a very aggressive invasive plant species incoastal areas 630

List of Figures xxix

23.12. Ramet of Zelkova sicula (Ulmaceae), a relict and very threatenedpalaeoendemic small tree, south-eastern Sicily 632

23.13. Acis fabrei, a narrow endemic with only four known populations fromthe southern slopes of the Mont Ventoux 633

23.14. Three taxa of salmonids: Marble trout, Corsica trout, and Brown trout 63523.15. The Pond terrapin Emys orbicularis 63623.16. A pair of Bonelliseagles Hierraaetus fasciatus at their nest 63723.17. The Scops owl Otus scops, threatened by the decline of large invertebrates 63923.18. The Vikos Gorge with its spectacular limestone cliffs 64123.19. Cliffs are important habitats for several rare birds and endemic

plant species throughout the Mediterranean basin 64423.20. Distribution maps within the Mediterranean bioclimatic region of fifty

glacial refugia 645

List of Tables

1.1. A summary of the impact of tectonics on the geomorphology of theMediterranean region 7

1.2. Examples of badlands and partial badlands found acrossthe Mediterranean 19

2.1. Contributions to total Nile discharge from the main tributaries 403.1. Centres of cyclogenesis in the Mediterranean 753.2. Local winds of the Mediterranean 783.3. Decadal distribution of heatwave days 793.4. Summary of some recent flash floods in Mediterranean Europe 864.1. Scales of environmental variability and vegetation responses 904.2. List of genera of species first fossil appearance in the Tertiary record 984.3. A sample of Mediterranean pollen records 1095.1. Endemism rates of several groups of species in the Mediterranean 1586.1. Comparison of porportions of different soil types according to the FAO

classification relative to location in the north or south of theMediterranean basin 177

7.1. Terms used to describe Mediterranean sclerophyllous shrubland 2067.2. Fire-adapted strategies of some selected Mediterranean taxa 2187.3. Flammability of selected Mediterranean plants based on laboratory

tests of leaf ignition of Cretan species 2208.1. Water and sediment fluxes from the Axios and Aliakmon rivers that

drain into the north-west Aegean Sea 2469.1. Individual characteristics of all permanent natural lakes in the

circum-Mediterranean region>200 km2 in area, excludingcoastal lagoons 257

9.2. Exemplars of Mediterranean lake types 2589.3. Selected key Holocene palaeolimnological records for the Mediterranean 2599.4. Selected key Mediterranean wetlands requiring conservation

or restoration 26010.1. Large discharge springs of the world with flows>20m3 s1 29810.2. The twenty deepest caves in the world 30110.3. Characteristics of active karst settings and passive karst settings for

rockshelter and cave entrance environments in limestone terrains 31010.4. Karst sites in the Mediterranean region withWorld Heritage status 31412.1. Modern glaciers in the Mediterranean 35412.2. Correlation table showing the relationship between the fragmentary

glacial sequence in the Pindus Mountains, Greece, and the continuouslacustrine parasequence in the nearby Ioannina 249 and 284 cores 369

12.3. Current understanding of the geochronology of glacial deposits in theMediterranean region 376

13.1. Coastal environments around the Mediterranean Sea classified intobedrock and accretion coasts 386

13.2. Amplitude, duration, permanence, and length of coast affected byvarious types of rapid relative sea-level change in the Aegean 401

14.1. Dust over the Mediterranean 40714.2. Dust deposition amounts across the Mediterranean 421

List of Tables xxxi

14.3. Particle size characteristics of dust in various parts of the Mediterranean 42115.1. Major ash layers correlated with known volcanic eruptions in the

Mediterranean over the past 200 kyr 43615.2. Summary of volcanic hazards 43715.3. Twentieth-century record of deaths, injuries, and other impacts of

volcanic activity in the Mediterranean 44115.4. Fatal eruptions of Somma-Vesuvio 44416.1. Some major or otherwise noteworthy earthquakes in the Mediterranean 47016.2. A list of indicative criteria for the identification of earthquakes from

archaeological data 47517.1. Strong tsunamis of intensity k 4 reported for the Mediterranean Sea

between 426 BC and AD 2002 49517.2. Mean return period of tsunami intensity and the most likely maximum

tsunami intensity to be observed for various parts ofthe Mediterranean Sea 507

17.3. Tsunami potential in each of the tsunamigenic zones ofthe Mediterranean 508

18.1. Major flood events in the European Mediterranean since 1990 51418.2. The number of catastrophic floods based on historical sources recorded

in various river basins in Spain, Italy, and France 53020.1. National soil erosion risk data for five Mediterranean countries in the EU 56621.1. Water resources in the Mediterranean basin by country and continent 58721.2. Key figures on internal and external natural and exploitable water

resources for the three main regions of the Mediterranean basin 58821.3. Annual water withdrawal volumes for the three main regions of the

Mediterranean basin 59321.4. Present-day pressures on water resources in the Mediterranean basin 59421.5. Water demand predictions for 2025 in the three regions of the

Mediterranean basin 59522.1. Air pollution emissions in Europe in the year 2000, and emission

reductions between 1980 and 2000 60023.1. Some of the most invasive alien plants occurring in the

Mediterranean basin 62923.2. Threatened vascular plants by country based on the former IUCN

categories and included in the 1997 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants 63123.3. Threatened vascular plants on the seven large Mediterranean islands,

based on the former IUCN categories 63123.4. List of large mammals that were present in the Mediterranean basin

during the Late Pleistocene, including species found as fossils invarious deposits of southern France, and that became extinct 634

23.5. Major protected areas such as National Parks and Biosphere Reserveswithin the Mediterranean bioclimatic region 640

23.6. List of Ramsar sites within the Mediterranean bioclimatic region 64023.7. Impacts of the major influences on the biodiversity of ten

Mediterranean regional hotspots 644

List of Contributors

Ramadan Abu-Zied is an assistant lecturer in the Geology Department at Mansoura Uni-versity in Egypt. He obtained his Ph.D. in 2001 with Eelco Rohling in Southampton. Heis a specialist in benthic foraminifera and the application of their abundance variationsand stable isotope ratios in palaeoenvironmental research, with emphasis on the easternMediterranean.

Harriet Allen is a lecturer and researcher in the Department of Geography, University ofCambridge. Her research interests focus on the response of ecosystems to environmentalchange. This includes the integration of high resolution remote sensing data with ecolog-ical surveys to assess contemporary ecosystem changes, and pollen and sedimentologicalresearch to reconstruct longer-term ecosystem changes.Much of her recent fieldwork hasbeen carried out in Mediterranean-climate regions, including Greece and Portugal.

Jacques Blondel is with the Centre dcologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, CNRS, Montpel-lier and he previously taught at the University of Louvain in Belgium. His main researchinterests focus on the origin and regulation of biological diversity at several scales ofspace and time, from processes involved in the establishment of faunas at the scale ofthe Mediterranean region, to community dynamics at the scale of landscapes and popu-lations at the scale of local habitats. He conducts a long-term (>30 years) programme onthe phenotypic variation of birds in Mediterranean habitat mosaics. He is also concernedwith biodiversity and conservation issues.

Maria del Carmen Llasat is a professor and coordinates a research group in the Depart-ment of Astronomy and Meteorology at the University of Barcelona. She was presidentof the Natural Hazards Section in the former European Geophysical Society (now partof the European Geosciences Union). She is the managing editor of the journal NaturalHazards and Earth System Science. Her research interests are mainly meteorological andhydrometeorological risks in the Mediterranean region.

James Casford in a lecturer in the Department of Geography at Durham University. Heobtained his Ph.D. in 2001 with Eelco Rohling in Southampton. His research focuseson climate variability and the palaeoceanography of marginal basins, particularly theeastern Mediterranean.

Marc Castellnou is the Fire Analysis Officer in the Fire Service of the Catalonian RegionalGovernmentwhere he runs the forest fire training programme for forest fire professionals.He has worked and tackled fires in the USA, Africa, France, the UK, and Portugal. He hasalso carried out research into forest fire regimes, forest fire ecology, and forest fire prop-agation. He has been involved in several European research projects as researcher andcoordinator. More recently he has coordinated the operational training of internationalfire-fighting units.

Andrew Goudie is a Professor of Geography in the University of Oxford and Master ofSt Cross College. His research interests are in desert geomorphology and climate change.He has worked extensively in Africa, India, and theMiddle East on such themes as dunes,dust, pans, loess, and salt.

Andrew Harding is a research associate at the Global Environmental and Climate ChangeCentre (GEC3) at McGill University working with Environment Canada. His main focusis the investigation of linear and non-linear links between synoptic scale atmosphericdynamics and meso-scale climate extremes. His Ph.D. (from the Climatic Research Unit

List of Contributors xxxiii

at the University of East Anglia) focused on patterns and trends evident within the vari-ability and sensitivity of Mediterranean climate extremes.

Angela Hayes is with the Department of Geography, Mary Immaculate College at theUniversity of Limerick. She obtained her Ph.D. in 1999 with Eelco Rohling in Southamp-ton. She specializes in reconstructing past sea surface temperatures from planktonicforaminiferal abundance data, and uses this in combination with stable isotope ratiosto reconstruct past ocean and climate conditions.

Tom Holt is a Senior Research Associate in the Climatic Research Unit, University of EastAnglia. His main research interests are the assessment of uncertainty in projections ofclimate change from numerical models and the analysis of climate extremes. A specialfocus has been on likely changes in climate extremes over the Mediterranean to 2100,with a particular emphasis on drought and impacts on the tourism, agriculture, andenergy industries.

Babette Hoogakker is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Earth Sciences atthe University of Cambridge. She obtained her Ph.D. in 2003 with Eelco Rohling inSouthampton. She is specialized in the combined use of sedimentology, foraminiferalcensus counts, and shell chemistry, to reconstruct palaeoceanographic conditions onglobal scales.

Philip Hughes is a lecturer in Physical Geography at the University of Manchester, wherehe held a postdoctoral fellowship between 2004 and 2006 working on the glacial andperiglacial history of the Mediterranean. His Ph.D. (University of Cambridge, 2004)focused on Quaternary glaciation in the Pindus Mountains of north-west Greece and hehas also worked in Montenegro and Morocco.

Jos Lelieveld is director of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, and is professor inAtmospheric Physics at Mainz University. His research addresses photo-oxidants (e.g.ozone), the cleaning mechanism of the atmosphere, aerosols, and links with climate.

John Lewin is Emeritus Professor of Physical Geography at Aberystwyth University. Heis a fluvial geomorphologist who has been concerned with the development of riverlandforms over a wide range of timescales: long-term landscape evolution dating back tothe Tertiary, Quaternary alluvial deposits, historical river channel changes, and contem-porary river processes. Research over the more recent timescales has especially involvedhuman impacts and the dispersal of polluted sediments. He has wide field experienceof the Mediterranean region. He co-edited Mediterranean Quaternary River Environments(1995) with Mark Macklin and JamieWoodward.

Francisco Lloret is Professor of Ecology at the Universitat Autnoma Barcelona, andresearcher at the CREAF (Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications,Spain). His research interests focus on the structure and dynamics of plant communitiesin relation to anthropogenic sources of disturbance, such as fire regime, land use change,climate change, and exotic plant invasion. He has studied the historical patterns of fireregime in the Mediterranean basin and the interaction between fire regime and vegeta-tion recovery after fire. He has worked in the Mediterranean basin, the United States,Mexico, and Australia.

Francisco Lpez-Bermdez is a Professor in the Department of Physical Geography at theUniversity of Murcia. He published extensively on the hydrology and dynamics of fluvialsystems in semi-arid environments. He is especially interested in the interactions betweenvegetation and erosion in Mediterranean river basins and in the generation and geo-morphological impact of large floods. In 2006 (with Jorge Garca-Gmez) he publishedDesertification in the Arid and Semiarid Mediterranean Regions. A Food Security Issue in theNATO Security through Science Series.

xxxiv List of Contributors

Mark Macklin is Professor of Physical Geography at Aberystwyth University. His prin-cipal research interest is studying fluvial system responses to short- and longer-termenvironmental change. His work on Mediterranean rivers has focused on the IberianPeninsula, mainland and island Greece, and Libya. These investigations have docu-mented the effects of Late Pleistocene glaciation and sub-orbital scale climate change onriver behaviour, established the geomorphic impacts of extreme Holocene flood eventson mountain catchments and bedrock gorges, and developed a range of remediation andmanagement strategies for river basins contaminated by historical and present-daymetalmining. He has just started a three-year project investigating the role of tectonics onhistorical river development in western Crete.

Jean Margat is a geology graduate who worked as a hydrogeologist from 1947 to 1989,first in Morocco (Geological Survey), then in the Bureau de Recherches Geologiqueset Minires (BRGM: French Geological Survey) focusing on groundwater research, inFrance and in the arid zone. Later he specialized in water resources in the Mediterraneanbasin. He is the author of numerous publications dealing with the assessment and themanagement of water resources, the most recent being Water for the Mediterranean,Present and Future (Mediterranean Action Plan /Blue Plan, 2004). He is vice-chairmanof the Association Blue Plan for the Mediterranean and the Mediterranean Institute ofWater.

AnneMather is a Reader in Earth Scienceswith the School of Geography at the Universityof Plymouth. Her research focuses on long-term landscape development in drylands withthe main focus on tectonic geomorphology. This research encompasses both direct andindirect responses of alluvial and fluvial systems to regional tectonics. Her main geo-graphical areas of research include Spain, Turkey, Morocco, and Chile.

Frdric Mdail is Professor of Plant Ecology and Biogeography in the MediterraneanInstitute of Ecology and Palaeoecology (IMEP, University Paul Czanne Aix-MarseilleIII). His research interests include the conservation and biogeography of Mediterraneanplants, the processes induced by biological invasion and insular ecology. He conductshis research at several ecological scales, from regional phylogeography to the popula-tion biology and ecology of rare and endemic plants better to understand patterns andprocesses involved in the diversity of the Mediterranean basin hotspot.

Christophe Morhange is Professor of Physical Geography at the University of Provenceand a member of the CEREGEs (CNRS) Geomorphology and Tectonics group, Aix-en-Provence, France. His research interests are: (1) Holocene relative sea-level changesusing biological indicators; and (2) coastal geoarchaeology, notably the use of ancientharbour archives to reconstruct natural and anthropogenically forced changes sinceantiquity. He hasworked in numerous sites around theMediterranean and the Black Sea,including Bulgaria, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Spain, Tunisia,and the Ukraine.

Clive Oppenheimer is based at the Department of Geography, University of Cambridge.His research focus is the development and application of remote sensing techniques forenvironmental monitoring, especially volcanology. His observations of volcanic gas andaerosol emissions have been used to investigate the transport of magma below volcanoes,aswell as the impacts of volcanic pollution on the atmospheric environment. Recently, hehas studied the lava lakes of Mt. Erebus in Antarctica, and Erta Ale in Ethiopia. He is alsointerested in the climatic and human impacts of major historic and prehistoric eruptions.

Jean Palutikof is Head of the Technical Support Unit, IPCC Working Group II (Impacts,Adaptation, and Vulnerability). She is based in the Hadley Centre at the UK Met Office.Previously, she worked in the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia,and in the Department of Geography at the University of Nairobi. Her research interests

List of Contributors xxxv

focus on climate change impacts, and the application of climatic data to economic andplanning issues. Sheworked on the EU-fundedMEDALUS projects, constructing scenariosof regional climate change for the Mediterranean region.

Gerassimos Papadopoulos is Research Director with the Institute of Geodynamics,National Observatory of Athens, Greece. His main research interests are in instrumentaland historical seismicity, earthquake prediction, and tsunamis, particularly in the Euro-Mediterranean region. He has worked as a visiting scientist at MIT (Boston, 1984), NIED(Tsukuba, Japan, 1993), and Tohoku University (Japan, 2004. He served as Presidentof the International Natural Hazards Society (20006) and he is Vice-President of theEuropean Seismological Commission.

Josep Piol is at the Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications (CREAF)at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. His first work on forest fires focused onthe development of methodologies to estimate fire risk, in particular using meteoro-logical indices and measurements of the moisture content of fine fuels. More recently,he has focused his attention on understanding fire regimes in Mediterranean regions,and, in particular, the role of fuel build-up in increasing the occurrence of very largefires.

David Pyle is Professor of Earth Sciences in the Department of Earth Sciences at OxfordUniversity and previously taught at the University of Cambridge (19912006). His prin-cipal interests are understanding patterns and processes of active volcanism, in particularthe dispersal of tephra during large eruptions; the emission and reactivity of gases fromvolcanic vents; and the interactions between volcanoes and the climate system. He hasworked in Greece, Italy, Russia, the Americas, and south-east Asia.

Jane Reed is a lecturer in the Department of Geography, University of Hull. Her researchinterests focus on the use of lacustrine diatoms as quantitative environmental indicatorsin fresh and saline lakes, both in the palaeolimnological study of lake sediment coresand in environmental biomonitoring. Her main geographical focus is the lakes of theMediterranean and the Balkans, encompassing research themes ranging from long-termQuaternary climate change to recent water pollution and desiccation.

Neil Roberts is Professor of Physical Geography at the University of Plymouth. Hereceived his Ph.D. from the University of London (UCL), and has been a researcher atthe University of Oxford and subsequently Lecturer at Loughborough University. Hisresearch emphasizes global change during the Late Quaternary period, specifically lakesediment-based archives of past climate variability in low and mid-latitude regions, withlinks to archaeology. He is author of the key text, The Holocene, published by Blackwell.

Eelco Rohling is a Professor at the School of Ocean and Earth Science, SouthamptonUniversity, and is based at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton. He workson the processes of ocean and climate change over a range of timescales, with emphasison Pleistocene andHolocene records from subtropicalmarginal seas, such as theMediter-ranean and the Red Sea.

Iain Stewart is Professor of Geoscience Communication at the University of Plymouth. Aformer president of the INQUA Commission on Neotectonics, his primary research inter-ests are on Holocene coastal tectonics and sea-level change, with particular emphasison shoreline records of earthquake, volcano, and tsunami activity. With Claudio Vita-Finzi, he co-edited The Geological Society of Londons Special Publication 146 on CoastalTectonics, and has studied Holocene coastal change in tectonically active parts of theMediterranean, principally Aegean Greece and Turkey, and eastern Sicily.

Stathis Stiros is Associate Professor with the Department of Civil Engineering, Patras Uni-versity, and was previously with the Institute of Geology andMineral Exploration (IGME)

xxxvi List of Contributors

in Athens. His research interests include the identification of earthquakes from archaeo-logical and coastal geomorphological data and themodelling of crustal and ground defor-mation processes. He is also interested in new developments in geodetic instrumentationand analytical tools for the recording and analysis of small-scale oscillatory movements,as well as geodetic techniques used in antiquity.

John Thornes, who died in 2008, was Research Chair in Physical Geography at KingsCollege, University of London. His main research was in the interaction of grazing, vege-tation and erosion. He has jointly publishedEnvironmental Issues in theMediterraneanwithJohnWainwright for Routledge. Hewas awarded Doctor Honoris Causa by the Universityof Murcia in 2006 for his contributions to the knowledge of the environments of south-east Spain.

Chronis Tzedakis is Professor of Global Change Palaeoecology at the Earth and BiosphereInstitute, School of Geography, University of Leeds. His research centres on understand-ing the response of vegetation to variations in climatic forcing on different timescales(orbital and millennial/centennial) in the Mediterranean region. His work involves thestudy of long lake sequences and deep-sea cores, which provide an opportunity to exam-ine phase and amplitude relationships between climate and vegetation changes overseveral glacialinterglacial cycles.

John Wainwright is Professor of Physical Geography at the University of Sheffield, andwas previously at Kings College London. His research focuses on the role of erosionprocesses in land degradation over a range of timescales from prehistory to the mod-ern day, using combined field, laboratory, and computer-modelling approaches. He hasworked extensively in southern France, Spain, Italy, and Greece, as well as in drylandenvironments in the USA and Africa.

Jamie Woodward is Professor of Physical Geography at the University of Manchester. Hisresearch focuses on Quaternary environmental change, geomorphological systems, andgeoarchaeology in the Mediterranean. He has field experience in various parts of Greece,Sicily, Montenegro, Corsica, and Spain. He has a