Topic > Geological fieldwork - 1334

The area of ​​Kuncizzjoni and Fomm ir-Riħ is located on the border of the Victoria lines. It lies between a Horst and Graben system. Kuncizzjoni is raised on a horst element, which carries the Victoria Lines built across the Great Fault. In the valleys there are alluvial deposits due to the percolation of rainwater down to the lower plains and the high percentage of clay present in the soil. The clayey soils made the valley an ideal place to terrace fields for agricultural purposes. As a result, this leaves little room for natural vegetation to grow. The northwest or mistral wind is the predominant wind in the area. A south-east tilt occurs on the island, distributing the majority of the cliffs towards the western side of Malta and the lower beaches towards the eastern side of the island. From Kuncizzjoni in a northerly direction three small beaches were observed, protected by headlands. These were: Ġnejna Bay, Għajn Tuffieħa Bay and Oro Bay. This shows that there is softer rock (Globigerina, Greensands and Blue Clay) that has been eroded between the bands of harder rock (headlands). Steppe is typically found on karst terrain, a geomorphological feature present due to the limestone geology of the Maltese Islands. . You would expect to find Erica multiflor, Coridothymus capitatus, Asphodel aestivus and Anthyllis hermanniae subsp. melitensis (endemic) on this type of environment. Garrigue communities can also exist on karst terrain. The geomorphology of the place coincides with most of the western part of the Maltese islands. During fieldwork, clay slopes were noted, which lay beneath a band of upper coral limestone. Clay talus forms on the Globigerina limestone when layers of blue clay are pushed out and down a slope......in the center of the paper limestone......lline (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 fault plane did not allow the deposition of boulders near the sea surface. A pebble beach formation indicates that less energy has eroded the boulders into pebbles. Works Cited Conrad, E., & Cassar, L. F. (2007). Coasts and conflicts: towards harmonization 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 islands in a crystalline sea: the geology of the Maltese islands. Malta: PEGSchembri, P.J., & Baldacchino, A.E. (1998). Ilma, Blat u Ħajja: Is-sisien ta' l-ambjent naturali Malti (2nd ed.). Malta: Malta UNIversity Publishers Ltd.