A synthesis of different geomorphological landscapes on the Maltese Islands

Abstract

The landscapes of the Maltese Islands owe much of their distinctive nature to their gentle dip to the NE. Imparted by tectonic uplift activity along the Medina Wrench Fault during the Pliocene, and accompanied by a breakup into a set of fault systems striking perpendicularly in a NE-SW direction, these landscapes are some of the most aesthetically striking landforms on the islands. Following this phase of major tectonic activity which gave birth to the Maltese Islands in the form of a tilted block, the onset of a NE-SW fault system broke northern Malta into a system of horst and graben features bounded by two master faults termed the Great Fault and the South Gozo Fault. A drainage pattern from NW to SE remodelled the horsts and graben into a ridge and trough system. At the coastline, the horsts gave rise to plateaux and headlands while the graben developed into rias and bays. Contrasting rock strata developed into the modern landscape which is characterised by gentle stepped slopes capped by a limestone plateau. The lowermost and uppermost exposed formations are composed of chemically pure limestone and gave rise to a well-developed surface and subsurface karst system. The former is composed of rugged limestone pavements and deep narrow gorges, while the subsurface drainage produced magnificent solution subsidence structures and a subsurface cavern system best developed in south Malta where it is rich in Quaternary fossil fauna.