The magnetic anomalies of the Mediterranean Sea (IBCM-M)

The results of marine magnetic measurements and the research done to obtain the magnetic anomalies of the Mediterranean sea are here summarized. Integrated with the available data from deep reflection seismics, deep refraction seismics, and heat flow they contribute to a better understanding of the geology and geodynamics of the Mediterranean. A few examples are given. Regional, mainly negative magnetic anomalies in the Eastern Mediterranean, a remnant of Paleo-Tethys, give an inverse magnetization to the old oceanic crust, deeply buried under thick sediments (10-12 km); they are mainly bipolar in the Western Mediterranean and Central Mediterranean, and caused by magmatic bodies in, or over, a recent thin crust mostly fractured by extension (Oligocene in the former to very Recent in the latter). Very strong magnetic anomalies due to the ophiolites define the southern continuation of the Africa-Europe contact in the Ligurian-northern Tyrrhenian sea, or in the arcs of the Eastern Mediterranean, or in the main fault systems (Malta Escarpment). Local magnetic anomalies connected with extensional tectonics in the thinned continental margin W of Sardinia, in the Sicily Strait and in the Aegean sea. Spread magnetic anomalies are connected with Miocene to Pliocene rifting in the Tyrrhenian and Ionian seas.