The TRANSMED Project represents the main scientific initiative of the Mediterranean Consortium. The project aims to present a modern overview of the geological and geophysical structure of the Mediterranean region. This goal is achieved through a co-ordinated presentation of the complex structure along eight sections (transects) through the lithosphere.Each section is based upon all existing published and unpublished national data. Each transect is made in two versions. The lithostratigraphic section depicts the geological formations along the section as recorded by conventional geologic methods and techniques (geological mapping, structural studies,drilling, etc.) and geophysical surveys. The tectonic section presents the same information reflected through the geodynamic setting of each major geological formation, and more data about the character of the lithosphere.Thus, it is a step towards a geodynamic interpretation. A third step is the explanatory text to each section. It contains both a brief review of the necessary evidence (lithostratigraphy, chronostratigraphy, composition,etc.) and an interpretation of the geologic evolution of the main tectonic units crossed by the transect. Abundant illustrative material (cross section,borehole logs, maps, columnar sections, field photographs, etc.) is included in the form of clickable insets.

    The TRANSMED Project is sponsored by the Organizing Committee of the 32nd IGC and by the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche of Italy. The transects and the accompanying material will be included in a CD-ROM that will be released and officially presented at the 32nd IGC.    More than one hundred geoscientists from eighteen countries are currently participating in the project. The project already entered the final phase as far as all materials are under reviewing, and the final product will be published after final editing.

    The TRANSMED Project is coordinated by William Cavazza (Bologna), Francois Roure (Rueil-Malmaison), Wim Spakman (Utrecht), Gerard Stampfli (Lausanne) and Peter Ziegler (Basel). The TRANSMED team includes also Narimane Benaouali, Rabah Bracene, Eugenio Carminati, Alberto Castellarin,Ahmed Chalouan, Carlo Doglioni, Nikola Dumurdzanov, Hassan El-Barghati,Ahmed El-Hawat, Dominique Frizon de Lamotte, Maurizio Gaetani, Dumitru Ioane, Mesbah H.I. Khalil, Adel A. Obeidi, Yossi Mart, Alain Mauffret,Aral Okay, Dimitrios Papanikolaou, Riccardo Polino, Eduard Roca, Alastair H.F. Robertson, Bertrand Saint-Bezar, Renzo Sartori(deceased), Antoneta Seghedi, Michel Seranne, Randell Stephenson Sergiy Stovba, Jaume Verges, Ivan Zagorchev, Bulgaria participates actively in the preparation of the two transects (III and VII) that cross through the Balkan Peninsula.
The work is sponsored by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and the Ministry of Environment and Waters.