The geology of Gozo

Abstract

In the distant past, all knowledge that did not relate to God was considered mundane and was dumped under the heading Geology (Geos: earth; logia: study of) - in contradistinction to Theology (Theos: God). It was not before the second half of the 16th century that Geology was used in its modern, restricted sense, in a manuscript attributed to Juanelo Turrientes (Lopez de Azcona, 1987: 48). In the printed form, the term 'Geology' appeared a century later when M. P. Escholt published his Geologia Norvegica in 1657. Geology, as we know it today is a science related to the study ofrocks and to the natural processes/forces acting upon them. Broadly speaking the geology ofGozo is not much different from that of Malta, but there are a few sedimentary structures as well as some geomorphogical and tectonic features which are more evident on one island than on the other. Gozo is the second largest and the most northern island of the Maltese archipelago, which lies on a Northwest-Southeast axis, with a slight Northeast tilt. As a result of this gentle tilt to the north-east, we can see, to south-west of Gozo, Ta' Cenc cliffs, made ofrocks from the lowermost Formation on the Maltese Islands, towering to a height of about 140 meters above sea level, whilst on the north, at Marsalforn, the overlying Globigerina Limestone is brought down to sea level. Further westwards on the same coastline, Wied il-Ghasri, excavated in the lowermost geological Formation (Lower Coralline Limestone), is invaded by the sea to form a miniature Fjord.