Stone : between quarry and landscape

Abstract

For centuries, it was virtually the islands’ only natural mineral resource that could be readily extracted and used for construction. The lower globigerina limestone is millions of years old, the product of successive layers of marine sediment that gradually consolidated into sedimentary rock. Globigerina limestone is the second-oldest rock formation exposed on the Maltese Islands and constitutes approximately 70 per cent of their surface area, weathering to form the broad, gently rolling landscape characteristic of much of Malta. [excerpt]