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Contents
ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................................................ 3
1 THE SICILY CHANNEL - TUNISIA PLATEAU.................................................................................................. 5
1.1 GEOGRAPHIC LIMITS OF THE SICILY CHANNEL- TUNISIA PLATEAU (CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN)............................ 5
2 TOPOGRAPHY AND BATHYMETRY ............................................................................................................ 8
2.1 TOPOGRAPHIC FEATURES OF REMARKABLE BIOLOGICAL RELEVANCE .............................................................. 15
2.1.1 Banks, seamounts and submerged volcanoes....................................................................... 15
2.1.2 Deep sea seeps, mud volcanoes and pockmarks ................................................................... 17
3 CIRCULATION SYSTEM ............................................................................................................................ 19
3.1 THE MODIFIED ATLANTIC WATER FLOW (MAW) ...................................................................................... 20
3.2 LEVANTINE INTERMEDIATE WATER (LIW) ............................................................................................... 22
3.3 EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN DEEP WATER (EMDW) ................................................................................. 23
4 SEA TEMPERATURE................................................................................................................................. 25
5 EFFECTS OF PHYSICAL PARAMETERS ON THE BIOLOGICAL COMPONENTS .............................................. 27
5.1 DEEP SEA CORAL HABITATS ................................................................................................................... 27
5.2 OCEAN TRIADS AND THE EFFECT OF AIS ON ANCHOVY SPAWNING ................................................................ 30
5.3 BLUEFIN TUNA (THUNNUS THYNNUS) SPAWNING AREA .............................................................................. 31
5.4 FIN WHALE (BALAENOPTERA PHYSALUS) WINTER FEEDING GROUND.............................................................. 33
REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................................... 35
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