Striated Shorline Rock Formation, Agios Pavlos Share your maps of Crete. Post your GPS data of the island, waypoints, tracks and hiking routes. Geology and geography of Crete.

[Nick]

HI,

It's been a long while since I've been on the forum ... it's been a long while since I was last in Sfakia (2013), but only now with lockdown have I the time to carefully go through the photos I've taken over the years of visiting. One I came across today was of the shoreline at Agios Pavlos. The rock formation reminded me somewhat of that of the Burren in Ireland, except that the striations there were caused through glaciation! I was wondering whether anyone here has knowledge as to what would have caused the fine striations (plate tectonics comes to mind, but I am unskilled in geology). https://www.flickr.com/photos/22540304@N04/50891787176/in/dateposted/

I'm missing Crete!

Best wishes,
Nick

[jean h]

I am unable to access your photos - do you need to give permission in general for this site, or is it just me?

[Nick]

Apologies Jean, I forgot to switch the permission on flickr, it should be visible now!

[jean h]

Here's a brief explanation of the striation from my brother-in-law, who is a retired geo-morphologist/geographer:

Looks like thinly bedded limestone on its side (i.e. age sequence is youngest to oldest near to far or vice versa) and then some faulting – you can see a slight displacement of structures. Marine erosion has then picked out the bedding planes. So it is sediment laid down in thin layers, consolidated through geological time and then tipped over on its side by tectonic movement, somewhat faulted during that process, and then exposed on the shore and eroded by waves and shingle.

[Nick]

Jean, thanks very much for your help on this and the explanantion by your brother-in-law. I did reply to your pm but for some reason it will not leave my outbox!

[jean h]

Another answer from an informed friend:

It's just a normal wave cut platform (see for example https://sites.google.com/site/erosinall ... of-erosion ) but it was then lifted out of the sea by the uplift of 365 AD so it makes it very prominent when you walk above it (from Agia Roumeli to Marmara)

[Nick]

Jean,

Thanks again! (The pms are still stuck in my outbox ... maybe I need to ask Erno for help). For now, The concept of rotational tectonic activity (between the African Plate and the Aegean Sea Plate) exposing the bedding planes seems to fit best.

Nick