A short video explaining how the 2nd principle applies to the Mediterranean Sea, link. Part of the Fins into the Water Library on the European Marine Science Educators Association (EMSEA) website.

Dinosaurs never ate cake, of course! Instead, calcium carbonate from the hard parts of marine organisms (corals, shells, phytoplankton) that lived millions of years ago is a fundamental part of the limestone rocks we see today! 

Have you ever seen the Alien police? Rather, scientist have proven that there are tectonic processes that move continents and sea floors. In the Mediterranean, these processes have lifted up the seabed, there are fossils of shells found even in the Alps, and they have shaped the coastline as the continents of Africa and Europe move back and forth. 

This resource made by BioInteractive is actually for older students, however, it is an interesting interactive tool that shows how the Mediterranean Sea formed due to plate tectonics, link.

First find Europe and the Mediterranean Sea, then use the grey button to go back in time. You don't need to go too far back to see how different things were in the past. 

Mermaids are only found in fairy tales. Erosion, on the other hand, is an important process that creates unique coastal features like sea arches, sea caves and sea stacks. 

Octopus aren’t that smart! Rather, carbon accumulates in the hard parts of marine organisms (molluscs, urchins, corals). Even seagrass, like Posidonia Oceanica, are an important living storage of carbon on the seabed. 

Deep submarine canyons are found on the floor of the Mediterranean Sea. These unique features, that look like river valleys, were actually formed by rivers around 5.5 million years ago when the water level of the Mediterranean was much lower when the strait of Gibraltar closed due to tectonic reasons. 

Watch this interesting animation made by the University of Malta in connection with a research paper they published, link.