Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Mountains that are considered outside the influence of, or on the periphery of
the Mediterranean, for example the Alps, Mercantour, the North Dinarids, and
the North of Anatolia (Ozenda, 1975).
Mountains included in the various delineations of the Mediterranean area that
have biotic affinities to the basin, such as the mountains of the Canary islands.
This topic focuses on the first category, since extending this volume to cover all the
massifs associated with the Mediterranean Basin would be a huge task. However,
there are limited references to the other two categories (see Chapters 3 and 4).
Mediterranean mountains exhibit many similarities in their biotic, ecological,
physical and environmental characteristics but also significant differences. They
have always been inextricably linked to their surroundings, providing, for exam-
ple, cities and coastal areas with invaluable resources including water, timber and
even labour (Benoit and Comeau, 2005). Relief in the Mediterranean is affected
more by erosional processes than by glacial abrasion, compared to other Euro-
pean mountains; Mediterranean mountains receive more precipitation compared
to the surrounding lowlands and are sources of various important rivers. In gen-
eral, mountains in the northern part of the Mediterranean are lower than those in
the southern Mediterranean. Primary and secondary shrub formations (e.g. maquis,
garriga, carrascal, phrygana, shibliak) are very common, with distinct differences
between north and south. Floristic composition, and the level and concentration of
endemism vary (see Chapter 6). Other differences include human colonization pat-
terns, historic land uses and current anthropogenic pressures. For example, tourist
impact is greater in northern than in southern Mediterranean mountains, whereas
grazing follows the opposite trend. This topic addresses these characteristics and
examines the major environmental changes that the mountains experienced during
the Quaternary period.
1.3 The character of the Mediterranean mountains
The separation of the African and European plates around 150 million years ago
resulted in the formation of the Mediterranean Basin. Throughout the last part of
the last ice age, c. 20 000 years ago, the climate of the area was significantly drier
and cooler than it is today. The mountains of the Mediterranean have changed sig-
nificantly since the end of the last ice age c. 12 000 years ago, due to sea-level rise,
and in turn the biogeographical characteristics of the mountains have been altered.
In
Chapter 2
, faunal and palynological evidence is examined to provide a picture
of the changes in biota and the environment through the Quaternary, with emphasis
on changes, including human impacts, during the last 12 000 years.
Many of the Mediterranean mountains supported glaciers during the Pleistocene,
and some glaciers and ice patches still survive today, as discussed in
Chapter 3
.
Cirques, U-shaped valleys, aretes, roches moutonees, glacial lakes and moraines
