“…Water in all deep-drilled wells in the central sectors of peri-Mediterranean coastal plains consistently shows increasing salinity with depth, indicating the ubiquitous presence of a deep saline brine (Issar 1968, Wright 1985, Wright and Burgess, 1992, Crampon et al 1996, Barazzuoli et al 1996, Taniguchi et al 2003, Edmunds et al 2003, Saad et al 2004, Weinthal et al 2005, Shagar et al 2006, Grassi et al 2007, Trabelsi et al 2009, Edmunds 2009, MacDonald et al 2009, Ben Moussa et al 2010. Depth profiles of sulphur, nitrogen and carbon dissolved compounds, as well as changes in earth-alkaline concentration, can be used to characterize processes typically determined by the bacterial processes of decomposition of organic matter.…”