The Northern Adriatic Sea is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea. As a shallow (average depth: 35 m), semi-enclosed sea lying on continental crust, it is an ideal model for past epeiric (epicontinental) seas. In his 2007 book “The Northern Adriatic Ecosystem: Deep Time in a Shallow Sea” Frank McKinney brought an additional analogy, suggesting that the seafloor ecosystem of the Northeastern Adriatic Sea closely resembles Paleozoic-style ecology.
The Adriatic Sea thrives with life: this photo shows a sea star near a bivalve burrow. Hermit crabs are on the topmost part of the picture. I took this picture in the Gulf of Trieste.
According to this intriguing idea, the Adriatic Paleozoic-style is characterized by low-nutrient water, low intensity of grazing predation, and relatively few endobenthic (bottom-dwelling) animals. These remarkable features, united to the peculiar physiographic and ecological context, make the Adriatic Sea an ideal model to understand the relationship between ancient life and sediments. That is why I like so much doing research there!
A gallery of pictures I took in the Northern Adriatic Sea.
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