"Final report of Working Group 3, Alpine Mediterranean Geodynamics ..."--Verso t.p.

A publication of the Mediterranean Consortium for the 32nd International Geological Congress

Presents information from the primary abiotic forces defining the system, and from the present hydrology, biogeochemistry and physics of major sites of organic carbon production of the McMurdo Dry Valleys. Additionally, research on the physical, chemical, and biological properties of the dry valley soils is included. The role of environmental management in long-term ecological studies is also addressed. The accompanying CDROM provides details and scale to visualize the McMurdo Dry Valleys from an ecosystem perspective.

This volume contains papers giving an interdisciplinary review of 12 major rift systems from North and South America, Africa, Europe and Asia. These papers are written by an international group of academic and industrial specialists each of whom is most knowledgeable about the respective rift. The analyzed rifts were selected on the basis of availability of an as-complete-as-possible geological and geophysical data base. Thirteen papers deal with geodynamic processes governing the evolution of rifts.A comprehensive digest of the available stratigraphic, structural, geophysical and petrological data, together with an extensive list of references, is provided for each of the analyzed rift systems. The megatectonic setting and dynamics of evolution of each basin is discussed. Geodynamic models are tested against the record of the analyzed rifts.The question of "active" as against "passive" rifting is addressed. The rifts analyzed range in age from Precambrian to Recent and cover a wide spectrum of megatectonic settings. There is discussion of the evolution of rifts in a plate-tectonic frame. The case histories are followed by discussions addressing the global setting of rifts and geodynamic processes active during the development of rifted basins.

This book contains current results and ideas regarding the geodynamics of the Aegean and Anatolia.

To be included in the prelims: Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on The Adria Microplate: GPS Geodesy, Active Tectonics and Hazards, held in Veszprem, Hungary 4-7 April 2004.

Geodynamics of the Alps consists of three volumes. This third volume is entirely dedicated to Alpine collision. It describes and interprets elements of the Alpine chain, including Alpine magmatism, the formation of external massifs, the foreland basin, the exhumation of the internal part of the chain and the northern deformation front of the Alps. The aim of this book is to create a space for experts on Alpine research to present the state of the art of specific subjects and provide their own interpretations.

The Mediterranean Sea, nestled between Africa, southern Europe, and the Middle East, may be envisioned as a complex picture-puzzle comprising numerous intricate pieces, many of which are already in place. A general image, in terms of science, has emerged, although at this time large gaps are noted and some areas of the picture remain fuzzy and indistinct. In recent years this fascinating, mind-teasing puzzle image has become clearer with individual pieces more easily recognized and rapidly emplaced, largely by means of multidisciplinary and multinational team efforts. In this respect, the Special Program Panel on Marine Sciences of the NATO Scientific Af fairs Division considered the merits of initiating four conferences bearing on the Mediterranean ecosystem. It was suggested that the first, emphasizing geology, should dovetail with subsequent seminars on physical oceanogra phy, marine biology, and ecology and man's influence on the natural Medi terranean regime. At a conference held in Banyuls-sur-Mer, France, in August 1979, Profes sor Raimondo Selli was urged by some panel members to initiate an Ad vanced Research Institute (ARI) that would focus primarily on the geologi cally recent evolution of the Mediterranean Sea and serve as a logical base for future NATO conferences on the Mediterranean.

CROP Project: Deep Seismic Exploration of the Central Mediterranean and Italy presents and discusses new data ranging from Alps to Africa, obtained by the CROP PROJECT (transcrustal seismic exploration of the Mediterranean and Italy). New lithospheric imagings of relevant importance for understanding disputed topics are provided. Alps, Apennines, Calabrian Arc, Sicilian Apennine, Maghrebian Chain, Corso-Sardinian Block, paleo-basins (Ionian, Alpine Tethys), neo-basins (Balearic and Tyrrhenian) are innovatively reconstructed. - Provides new data from the Alps to Africa - Presents interpretation of the CROP seismic network data - Offers a stepwise increase in information with new data for further studies