The Physical Geography of the Mediterranean

This volume explores the climates, landscapes, ecosystems and hazards that comprise the Mediterranean world. It traces the development of the Mediterranean landscape over very long timescales and examines modern processes and key environmental issues in a wide range of settings. TheMediterranean is the only region on Earth where three continents meet and this interaction has produced a very distinctive Physical Geography. This book examines the landscapes and processes at the margins of these continents and the distinctive marine environment between them. Catastrophicearthquakes, explosive volcanic eruptions and devastating storms and floods are intimately bound up within the history and mythology of the Mediterranean world. This is a key region for the study of natural hazards because it offers unrivalled access to long records of hazard occurrence and impactthrough documentary, archaeological and geological archives. The Mediterranean is also a biodiversity hotspot; it has been a meeting place for plants, animals and humans from three continents throughout much of its history. The Quaternary records of these interactions are more varied and betterpreserved than in any other part of the world. These records have provided important new insights into the tempo of climate, landscape and ecosystem change in the Mediterranean region and beyond. The region is unique because of the very early and widespread impact of humans in landscape andecosystem change - and the richness of the archaeological and geological archives that chronicle this impact. This book examines this history and these interactions and places current environmental issues in long term context.

Jamie Woodward is Professor of Physical Geography at The University of Manchester. He has worked on the geomorphology and Quaternary history of the Mediterranean region for over two decades. He is especially interested in fluvial, glacial and karst sediment systems. A good deal of this research takes place in collaboration with archaeologists and Jamie is interested in human-environment interactions across a range of timescales. He is the Co-Editor of Geoarchaeology: An International Journal and he is the Quaternary Science and Geomorphology Editor for the Journal of the Geological Society of London.