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STRAIT DF SICILY
~ CONTINENTAL SLOPES
E-·-=3 CONTINENTAL RISES
PHYSIDGRAPHIC REGIDNS
IIIITIIIIJllPLATEAUS
c::::J CONTINENTAL BORDERLANDS
miill!Jill BANKS
~KNOLLS

FIGURE 4.-Physiographic chart of the Strait of Sicily showing highly irregular topography of
this region. (From Akal, 1972.)

200 m (shown as shelf on Figure 4). The deeper, Sicily-Medina and Adventure Banks south of Sicily
elongate regions, including deep basins, known by are the largest (Figure l).
some authors as the Sicily Channel, parallel the Of particular interest are the two shallow banks
main trend of the Strait platform, i.e., northwest- at both ends of the Strait Platform: Skerki Bank
southeast. Three narrow, steep-walled, elongate (Blanc, 1958), north-northwest of Cape Bon, and
basins (Malta, Pantelleria, and Linosa) are 1700, Medina Bank, southeast of Malta. These elongate
1300, and 1600 m in depth, respectively. These topographic highs serve as important barriers to
three distinct depressions are separated from each water masses flowing across the platform. These
other by a neritic bathyal platform. The Gela or shallow platforms at opposite ends of the Strait
South Sicily Basin is a shallower but much larger platform are also called Eastern Sill and Western
basin lying south of Sicily and northwest of Malta. Si l l.
The larger islands include Malta and Gozo, Pantel- N ames assigned to the various other morpho-
leria, Linosa, Lampedusa, Kerkennah, Galite, Ma- logical features depicted in Figures l and 3 are
rettimo, and Djerba south of the Gulf of Gabes. shown on charts in Blanc (1958), Burollet (1967),
The region is characterized by some extensive, Allan and Morelli (1971), and Carter et al. (1972).
shallow, generally fiat-topped or tabular, platforms In the Strait six major physiographic units or
of which the one east of Tunisia and the South morphological-sedimentary environments are ree-