Swath mapping of the Mediterranean Sea is being progressively completed within a cooperative framework comprising several national research, oceanographic and hydrographic institutions. The CIESM Geosciences Marines committee and Ifremer's mapping office have jointly promoted compilations and publications of synthesis maps of the eastern and western Medirerranean basins. The two maps reveal several active geological features of tectonic, volcanic, sedimentary and biogeochemichal origin imprinted on the seafloor. They illustrate the startling contribution of seafloor mapping with modern swath bathymetry systems to the knowledge of deep basins and the understanding of submarine geological processes.

Institutions and laboratories have provided data files and digital terrain models at a 500 m grid spacing extracted from their own swath bathymetry data sets for Ifremer mapping office to produce synthesis maps.

Benoît Loubrieu, Géosciences Marines, Ifremer, Brest (France)
Jean Mascle, CIESM, Géosciences Azur, CNRS-Insu, Observatoire de Villefranche sur Mer (France)
Pierre Mouscardès, Mission Océanographique de l'Atlantique, SHOM, Brest (France)
Nicolas Chamot-Rooke, Laboratoire de Géologie, CNRS-Insu, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris (France)
Xavier Le Pichon, Collège de France, Chaire de Géodynamique, Aix en Provence (France)
Claude Rangin, Collège de France, Chaire de Géodynamique, Aix en Provence (France)
Jean-Paul Foucher, Géosciences Marines, Ifremer, Brest (France)
Gilles Lericolais, Géosciences Marines, Ifremer, Brest (France)
Jean Benkhelil, Laboratoire d'Étude des Géo-Environnements Marins, Université de Perpignan, Perpignan (France)
John Woodside, Centre for Marine Earth Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam (NetherLands)
Matina Alexandri, Marine Geology and Geophysics group, HCMR, Athens (Greece)
Michael Marani, Geologia Marina, ISMAR, Bologna (Italia)
Nevio Zitellini, Geologia Marina, ISMAR, Bologna (Italia)
Miquel Canals, GRC Geociències Marines, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona (Spain)
Juan Acosta, Instituto Español de Oceanografía, Madrid (Spain)
Menchu Comas, Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra, Universidad de Granada, Granada (Spain)
Eulàlia Gràcia, Unitat de Tecnologia Marina, CMIMA/CSIC, Barcelona (Spain)
Belen Alonso, CSIC, Barcelona (Spain)
Serge Berné, Géosciences Marines, Ifremer, Brest (France)
Laurence Droz, IUEM, Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Brest (France)
Jacques Deverchère, IUEM, Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Brest (France)
Karim Yelles, CRAAG, Algiers (Algeria)

Alban Crusson, Géosciences Marines, Ifremer, Brest (France)