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The result is the formation of the Mediterranean Water that finally spreads into the interior of the North Atlantic forming the most prominent basin-scale thermohaline anomaly at mid-depths, the Mediterranean Salt Tongue, recognizable as a basin-scale salinity anomaly at 1000–1200 m depth through the North Atlantic (see Figure 2).
A dilution basin has a lower salinity due to freshwater gains such as rainfall and rivers, and its water exchange consists of outflow of the fresher mediterranean water in the upper layer and inflow of the saltier oceanic water in the lower layer of the channel. Renewal of deep water may not be sufficient to supply oxygen to the bottom.
A scientific survey of 314 Mediterranean coastal wetlands shows that human activities, such as agriculture, have converted 71% of Mediterranean natural coastal wetland habitat into farmland, 21% by artificialization, and 8% by urban expansion. [3] One of the greatest threats to the Mediterranean wetlands is water extraction.
Most studies of formational mechanisms infer some degree of reduced deep-water circulation. Oxygen can only reach the deep sea by new deep-water formation and consequent "ventilation" of deep basins. There are two main causes of OAE: reduction in deep-water circulation or raised oxygen demand from upper level.
Water is the medium of the oceans, the medium which carries all the substances and elements involved in the marine biogeochemical cycles. Water as found in nature almost always includes dissolved substances, so water has been described as the "universal solvent" for its ability to dissolve so many substances.
As the deep waters sink into the ocean basins, they displace the older deep-water masses, which gradually become less dense due to continued ocean mixing. Thus, some water is rising, in what is known as upwelling. Its speeds are very slow even compared to the movement of the bottom water masses.
The Mediterranean Sea (/ ˌ m ɛ d ɪ t ə ˈ r eɪ n i ən / MED-ih-tə-RAY-nee-ən) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the west almost by the Morocco–Spain border.
Studies conducted within the WWF Mediterranean Marine Initiative of 2019 [6] have estimated that 0.57 million metric tons of plastic enter the Mediterranean Sea every year; this quantity corresponds to the dumping of 33.800 bottles made of plastic into waters every minute, representing important risks for marine ecosystems, human health, but ...