The area of Kuncizzjoni and Fomm ir-Riħ is found at the edge of the Victoria lines. It lies between a system of horst and graben. Kuncizzjoni is uplifted on a horst feature, which carries the Victoria lines that are built across the Great Fault. Alluvial deposits are found in the valleys due to the percolation of the rain water down to the lowest plains, and because of the high percentage of clay found in the soil. Clayey soils made the valley an ideal place to terrace fields for agricultural purposes. Consequently, this leaves little space for natural vegetation to grow. Northwest wind or Mistral is the predominating wind in the area. A southeast tilt occurs on the Island, distributing most cliffs towards the western side of Malta and lower lying beaches towards the eastern side of the Island. Three pocket beaches, protected by headlands, were observed from Kuncizzjoni in a northerly direction. These were: Ġnejna bay, Għajn Tuffieħa bay and Golden bay. This shows that there is softer rock (Globigerina, Greensands and Blue Clay) which has eroded in between bands of harder rock (headlands).
Steppe is typically found on karst, a geomorphological feature that is present due to the limestone geology of the Maltese Islands. One would expect to find Erica multiflor, Coridothymus capitatus, Asphodel aestivus and Anthyllis hermanniae subsp. melitensis (an endemic) on this type of environment. Garigue communities may also exist on karst.
The geomorphology of the place coincides with most of the western part of the Maltese Islands. Clay slopes were noted during the fieldwork, and observed to be underlying a band of Upper Coralline limestone. Clay talus forms over Globigerina limestone as the blue clay strata is forced out and down a slo...
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...lline limestone (Pedley et al., 2002). Although a high degree of wave energy is observed in this area, no sandy beach has formed. One explanation for this is that the deeper sea due to a faulting plane did not allow the deposition of boulders near the sea surface. A pebble beach formation indicates that less energy eroded boulders into pebbles.
Works Cited
Conrad, E., & Cassar, L. F. (2007). Coasts and Conflicts: Towards harmonisation and integration in the Mediterranean. Dormax Press Co. Ltd.
Huggett, J. R. (2011). Fundamentals of Geomorphology (3rd ed.). Oxon: Routledge.
Pedley, M., Clarke, M. H., & Galea, P. (2002). Limestone Isles in a Crystal Sea: The Geology of the Maltese Islands. Malta: P.E.G.
Schembri, P. J., & Baldacchino, A. E. (1998). Ilma, Blat u Ħajja: Is-sisien ta' l-ambjent naturali Malti (2nd ed.). Malta: Malta UNiversity Publishers Ltd.
The shelf-edge includes carbonate-to-clastic facies transition and tectonic uplift and erosion of the carbonates followed by deposition of the clastics. The Saint Peter Sandstone is a well-sorted, almost pure quartz arenite deposited during a major mid-Ordovician low stand. Clastics spread across an exposed carbonate platform by transportation. This is shown by the well-rounded, frosted texture of the quartz grains.
* A decrease in pebble size in the direction of long shore drift. * An increase in pebble roundness in the direction of long shore drift. I visited the two extreme ends of the beach, Gore point at the west and Hurl stone point at the east, at each end I measured: * The shape of the beach known as the beach profile, using a tape measurer and a clinometer. A clinometer measures the angle of a slope. * The size and shape of a sample of pebbles.
The Kimmeridge Clay Formation is the penultimate formation of the onshore British Jurrasic Succession. William Smith was the first to document this distinct formation on his map of 1815, and to name as the Oaktree Soil. In 1817, he gave the name Oaktree Clay for the layers of clay between the “Portland Rock” and “Coral Rag and Pisolite” but in 1816 Webster was the first to describe in details the formation and changed to the name now known as kimmeridge Clay Formation after the English village of Kimmeridge on Dorset’s “Jurassic Coast” a place frequently visited by fossil hunters. (Cox and Gallois, 1981).
Barrier Beaches stretch along the entire east coast of the United States. The barrier beaches from Long Island to Maine are known as Glaciated Coasts because their formation was assisted by glaciers. Eighteen thousands years ago a glacier covered most of the eastern US. This glacier terminated at present day Long Island. About fifteen thousands years ago the glacier began to retreat. As it melted it left behind mounds of rubble, called moraines. This particular glacier left behind two moraines because its final recession was a two part process. These two moraines are the Ronkonkoma Moraine and the Harbor Hill Moraine. The Ronkonkoma Moraine is located in central Long Island and the Harbor Hill Moraine is located on the northern part of Long Island. Besides the two moraines the glaciers deposited great amounts of debris offshore. This debris supplies the sand needed to create and maintain a barrier beach system (Hoel 16-18).
The coastal belt of the Franciscan Complex is composed of the youngest and least deformed units and makes up the western quarter of all Franciscan rocks. The rocks of the coastal belt are composed of arkosic sandstones, andesitic graywackes, and quartzofeldspathic graywackes interbedded with radiolarian chert (turbidite deposits) (Blake and Jones, 1981). These sedimentary rocks suggest a depositional environment of deep-sea fan systems with both oceanic and continental provenance. Parts of the belt show evidence of later metamorphism, principally due to subduction. Low-grade blueschist mineral facies are indicated by the presence of minerals such as laumonite and prehnite-pumpellyite (Blake and Jones, 1981). All rock units show evidence of thrust (imbricate) faulting due to the compressional forces of subduction. Ages of the coastal belt run from as little as 40 Ma (Eocene) to as old as 100 Ma (middle Cretaceous).
This sedimentary rock has hardened over the many years with sand shells, small pebbles, grains of sand and rocks of various sizes. In comparison to our 4.5 billion year old Earth, these sand shells might as well be brand new, when in reality they could be up to 1,000 years old. If the sandstone were to be replaced with calcite it would completely change the subclass of rock, it would then be chemical & organic limestone. The variation in sand stone is due to different rates of deposition and change in patterns of the sediment movement (Mc Knight, p. 384). These tightly compacted varying stones and shells will be weathered away by wind and waves over time and could eventually be reduced to a rock the size of your hand.
Longshore drift is a process by which sediments are transported from one place to another. When this process occurs, beaches, spits and sandbars are accreted over time. If the process of longshore drift is altered by factors such as stronger winds and stronger currents, beach erosion begins at a faster rate and this may result in many serious problems. The main stakeholders of longshore drift are resort owners. They rely on people to visit their resorts and enjoy the beach. However, if longshore drift erodes t...
The land directly surrounding the settlement was usually flooded during the times of high water. In addition to this stretch, there were about eight hundred and fifty acres of heavily timbered forest lands on the island an...
"Sedimentary Rocks." Backyard Nature with Jim Conrad. N.p., 18 May 2015. Web. 25 Oct. 2015.
Morton, J. W. (n.d.). Metamorphosed melange terrane in the eastern piedmont of north carolina. Retrieved from http://geology.geoscienceworld.org/content/14/7/551.abstract
Studying the effects of weathering and erosion on the uplifted and exposed basalt sill is important to understanding the geological events that lead to mass movements in the area. My researc sought to determine exactly what happens to a rock that has been exposed to natural weathering such as thermal, biological, chemical, and wet-dry also referred to as slaking, on a qualitative and quantitative scale. The weathering of the rocks, though apparent on the exterior of the sample, has an extreme and transformative effect on the internal structure (Gupta et al., 1999). Weathering disrupted the internal crystalline structure by producing microfactures, voids, and the deposition of clay minerals (Gupta et al., 1999). Basalt is heavily affected by weathering when concerning porosity and the formation of ...
In this ancient place there were all different kinds of remnants from what looked to be a permanent settlement, which led us to believe that it was formed in the Neolithic period. Scientists also believe from the skull fragments found that the Cro-Magnons were the hominid type that inhabited the area. Some of the fossils found helped to prove that the settlement was immobile because the fossilized plants were apparently in a specific arrangement, showing that they were planted purposefully. Some of the cotton grown in this area was apparently used to make woven cloth. Remnants of corn meal were used to make some of the mortar for their establishments, along with mud and sand. They also made their bricks, which were much larger than today’s, from mud. Some of the teeth from the Cro-Magnons were found to be stained. They were thought to be from the coffee ingested due to the high amounts of caffeine deposits in the bones.
The Precambrian Shield Rocks found in the Brickworks was formed in an ancient sea more than 1.4 billion years ago. Over many years, the heat and pressure from plate tectonics slowly pushed the land into a mountain chain. During the Ordovician period (around 470- 448 million years ago), the mountain chains This layer of shale and limestone is called the Georgian Bay
Krajick, Kevin. "Tracking Myth to Geological Reality." American Association for the Advancement of Science. 310.5749 (2005): 762. Print. .
not a single political entity but a collection of 1,500 separate poleis or 'cities' around the Mediterranean and Black Sea