Geology of the Maltese Islands
Introduction.
The geology of the Maltese Islands is relatively simple and young. Simple because the rocks are in essence exclusively sedimentary, and young because they date back only as far as the Tertiary. However there is still some degree of richness within this both as regards the minerals and the fossils.
Within the predominantly limestone rock there are some alluvial deposits and conglomerates of ferruginous and siliceous material.
Note: This page is still in preparation. It lacks a number of
images
and most of the text. It is limited to Palaeontology (fossils).
It shows images mainly of tertiary and of quaternary
fossils from Malta.
Tertiary Fossils
A wide range of life forms (mainly fauna) are present within the Tertiary deposits and these range from the microscopic Globigerina which gives the limestone its name, through to corals, molluscs, and echinoderms to cartilaginous fishes and eventually aquatic mammals.Some examples follow...
Pecten sp.
The image shows a bivalve mollusc shell probaby Pecten
latissimus, which
my father and I found in the scree at Qammieh in the early 1970s. The
diameter
of the fossil shell is approximately 200mm. It is about 25 million
years
old.
Ostrea sp. (oyster)
Conus sp. (cone shell)
Carcharodon sp.
These are shark teeth - the largest being from the great white
shark
- Carcharodon megalodon. This is unequivocal evidence that these
massive
carnivores roamed the Mediterranean.
Some believe that they still do.
Quaternary
The overlying Quaternary deposits include mainly fossils of mammals, evidence of the time when the island was attached to a much larger land mass.Some examples follow...
Hippopotamus sp.
The above are molar teeth of a hippopotamus, probably
Hippopotamus pentlandi.
These miscellaneous bones including a phalanx are probably also
from
a pigmy hippopotamus.
Elephas sp.