Dr. Edmond Melhem – Cyprus belongs to Syria Part III – Its Geology
Sa’adeh claimed that the geological formation of Cyprus is an extension of the Syrian mainland. Geological and geophysical studies of the island support Sa’adeh’s claim.
Geologists who have written about Cyprus emphasize that the island belongs to the young lands. There is no evidence upon which they could base any conception of its Paleozoic history. Scientists claim that “at a time when in other parts of the world the brontosaurus was crushing through the forests, Cyprus and many of the adjoining lands were not yet formed”[1]. Hence, “four major cycles of sedimentation are observable in the exposed Cyprus rock: the Triassic-Jurassic, the Upper Cretaceous-Oligocene, the Miocene and the Pliocene”.[2]
Complicated geological changes, covering millions of years, have given the island its present form after separating it from Syria. From the Jurassic to the Miocene period, the area now known as Cyprus and its neighboring regions underwent a series of convulsions with rises and subsidences that wrinkled the earth’s crust and repeatedly changed the character and form of the surface. Due to prolonged volcanic activity, it is estimated that by the end of the Jurassic period, extensive uplift occurred, resulting in the appearance of the limestone backbone of the Kyrenia range. This was followed by new volcanic activity and general uplift, which in turn was succeeded by subsidence, gradually causing what is now Cyprus to slide into the sea. Changes continued to occur in the Miocene period, with further subsidence producing a series of chalky limestone and marls known as the Dhali group, covering about half of the island.
“By the end of the Miocene period, further pressure from the north produced folds and creases, uplifted the Kyrenia range and carried, through igneous activity the vertical uplift of the Troodos massif”.[3]
Geologists who have written about Cyprus assume that its Pliocene history is analogous to that of Syria. It is probable that at some particular stage during this geological period, Cyprus was joined to Asia, and what is now the Mesaoria plain was a continuation of the Orontes River valley.
A new movement of elevation at the beginning of the Pleistocene period raised the plains above the sea and perhaps created a neck of land joining the island to the Alexandretta area. The Pleistocene period, to which all so-far identified fossilized human bones and implements belong, began less than a million years ago.
[1] Alastos, Doros. Cyprus in History, Zeno Publishers, London, 1955, p. 5.
[2] Quoted in ibid.
[3] Ibid.
related: Dr. Edmond Melhem – Cyprus belongs to Syria Part I
Dr. Edmond Melhem – Cyprus belongs to Syria – Its Geography Part II
