Making Cyprus: create the Troodos ophiolite and lift it up
In my first post about Cyprus, I introduced some basics about its geologic and human history (https://landscapes-revealed.net/cyprus-a-pop-up-island-between-converging-plates/). In my third post about Cyprus, I described the features found in the Troodos Geopark (https://landscapes-revealed.net/troodos-unesco-global-geopark-in-cyprus/). In this post, I'll explain the geology of the Geopark—how the ophiolite sequence that makes up the park was created and how it got lifted up to...
Troodos UNESCO Global Geopark in Cyprus
In 2015, the Troodos Geopark was officially included in the UNESCO Global Geoparks Network. Located in the central mountains of Cyprus, the Geopark covers an area of about 137,000 hectares or 1,147 km2 (443 miles2). It occupies about 45% of the total area of the Troodos mountain range and 15% of the total area of Cyprus. Elevations range from 300 m (984...
Nearly 6,000 years of Cypriot wine making
The history of winemaking in Cyprus can be traced back nearly 6,000 years. In 2005, a team of archeologists unearthed fragments of round flasks that were dated to the Chalcolithic period. These unwashed pottery fragments showed traces of tartaric acid (a component of wine), proving that the 5,500-year-old vases were used for wine. This provided evidence that the first wines...
Cyprus: a pop-up island between converging plates
We are now in Cyprus, an island located near the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea. The Mediterranean is a remnant of the long-lived Tethys Ocean that has been mostly consumed by subduction and other processes as the African and Eurasian plates converged over millions of years. Past posts have described the mountains formed by these converging plates in other...
About the Blogger
Karen (here with Mt. Shasta in background) is a geology professor emerita who aims to provide a "pocket geologist" for world travelers. Follow the blog to explore the landscapes of our planet and figure out what causes them to look the way they do.