LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Tyrrhenian Sea
built 501 days ago
The Tyrrhenian Sea is the youngest basin in the western Mediterranean, forming since the Tortonian (~9 Ma). It was opened, according to this reconstruction, as a result of a southeastward rollback of subduction systems near the margins of the Adriatic plate (Malinverno & Ryan 1986).
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Spectral analysis of both shipborne and airborne magnetic maps of the southern Tyrrhenian Sea reveals seven subparallel positive-negative magnetic anomaly stripes over the flat-lying deep floor of the Marsili oceanic basin. This represents the first evidence of oceanic magnetic anomalies in the Tyrrhenian Sea. The central positive stripe is along the Marsili seamount, a superinflated spreading ridge located at the basin axis. The stratigraphy of Ocean Drilling Program Site 650 and K/Ar ages from the Marsili seamount suggest that the Marsili Basin opened at the remarkable full-spreading rate of 19 cm/ yr between ca. 1.6 and 2.1 Ma about the Olduvai subchron. This is the highest spreading rate ever documented, including that observed at the Cocos-Pacific plate boundary. Renewed but slow spreading during the Brunhes chron (after 0.78 Ma), coupled with huge magmatic inflation, gave rise to the Marsili volcano.
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The active volcanic island of Stromboli on the Tyrrhenian Sea is clearly visible in the top left part of the image with its crater Sciara del Fuoco (926 metres). Mount Etna, the highest active volcano in Europe, is in the centre of the image, covering an area of 1600 square kilometres and with a height of 3323 metres approximately. The mountain is an immense cone broken by fissures and some 250 minor cones (some of them clearly visible in the image).
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The Aeolian archipelago in the Tyrrhenian Sea (east of Italy, north of Sicily) is interpreted as a volcanic arc . All of the seven main islands are volcanic in origin. Three volcanoes in the arc are active: Stromboli, Vulcano, and Lipari. Stromboli has been erupting almost continuously for 2,000 years. Vulcano has had numerous explosive eruptions, the most recent in 1888. The most recent eruption on Lipari, the largest island in the archipelago, was about 1,400 years ago.
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The Tyrrhenian Sea is situated near the African-European Fault; therefore mountain chains and active volcanoes (mount Marsilii) are in its depths. Winds are Mistral from the Rhône valley, Libeccio from the south-west, Scirocco and Ostro from the south.
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An exceptional intensification of hydrothermal degassing activity occurred on November 3, 2002, to the east of Panarea, the smallest island of the Aeolian Archipelago (Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy). This event represents a unique opportunity to study benthic foraminiferal assemblages under the ecological stress of hydrothermal emissions in shallow (10–15 m water depth) environments. Benthic foraminifera (>63 µm) were collected by a scuba diver from sediments and seagrass of a Posidonia oceanica meadow off the coast of Panarea. Assemblages were studied to assess mortality and monitor the composition of benthic communities following the sudden venting event, characterized by an intensification of the emission of gases with high temperatures (40–50°C), low pH (~5), and high concentrations of HCl, HF, SO2 and some H2S. Surface foraminiferal assemblages were monitored during surveys on November 13–14, 2002, and May 22–24, 2003. In November 2002 (10 days after the venting event) agglutinated forms dominated the assemblages in sediment samples, whereas hyaline forms dominated the assemblages collected from the leaves and roots of P. oceanica.
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Tyrrhenian Sea