ABSTRACT
Gibraltar is unique in its physical attributes. The Rock is an accident of geology, resulting from processes many millions of years ago when the Mediterranean was created and closed off to the west by powerful tectonic forces as Africa and the Iberian peninsula ‘collided’. As land was raised, sea-levels may also have fallen as a consequence of the expansion of the Antarctic ice-cap. 1 Then, some two million years ago this western end of the dry Mediterranean basin was opened by east/west faulting, creating a narrow passage, the Strait of Gibraltar. The Strait was dominated by two towering features, Jebel Musa to the south and Jebel Tarik (Gibraltar) to the north. This narrow stretch of water, separating Europe and Africa, and providing the only link between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, is only 14 kilometres wide.
