"قبرص." [ظ‎‎٦‎١] (١٨٤/١٢٢)

116
CYPRUS.
■i
5. The coarse
limestone,
sand, and
marl.
6. Sands and
conglo
merates.
waekds, they are in a schistose state, are veined with quartz, and
of a greenish-grey colour.
5. The upper tertiary formation is found in the Karpas district
in several places ; at Bogasi, it is a white limestone containing
ostrea edidina; at Hai Theodore it is a coarse marly limestone ;
near Hai Simeon it is a coarse limestone containing large speci
mens of the pectunculus; near Calebournou it forms a high hill of
sand and soft limestone containing several fossils; it also appears
at Ghilanemo, Ilhizo Carpasso and Yaloussa. The formation is
also found in the Cerinea mountains at Clepini, Lapethus, Yasilia,
and other places; it here much resembles the miocene marls.
It covers with yellow sand the southern edge of the Messaria plain
from Visatchia to Athienou, where the hills have a base of white
miocene marl, but their upper part is an upper tertiary formation
of fine fossiliferous sand.
The formation again appears at Cape Pyla, and at Mavrospilios
in the south-eastern part of the island; here the rock is chiefly a
coarse marly limestone, containing numerous fossils, such as
pecten, pedunculu'i, tellina, ostrea, spatangus, echinolampas, &c.
Along the southern coast of the island are bands of conglomerates,
sands, and coarse limestones, lying on miocene beds, but it is
difficult to determine whether they are of the pliocene or the
quaternary period.
6. A cordon of rocks of quaternary formation borders the coast of
Cyprus almost throughout, and its continuity renders the study of
it comparatively easy.
The components of this cordon are coarse yellowish limestones,
grey or yellow sands full of foraminifera, and conglomerates which
are sometimes hard, sometimes friable. At Cape St. Andrea the
marine conglomerates appear to be of quite recent formation.
The whole of the north coast from Cape St. Andrea to Cape
Kormakiti is composed of coarse limestones, slightly glauconitic,
and of the same character as those of Hagia Napa on the south
coast. Generally the beds are horizontal, but near Yaloussa, they
incline slightly to the south. The following fossils are amongst
those found on the north coast:— rissoa, trochus, cyprcea, conus,
columbella, cerithium, lucina, pectunculus, area, and ostrea. The
shore of the west side of the island is formed of coarse limestones
alternating with sandy conglomerates containing aphanite. These
rocks simply border the sea, and do not extend any distance
inland; they lie horizontally on masses of apanite and ophite.
The southern coast of the same character; its rocks are of the
pliocene and quaternary periods.
The peculiar character of the conglomerate hills inland has
been noticed by Drs. Unger and Kotschy and many other writers.
They occur notably along the road between Larnaca and Nicosia,
as it enters the plain of Messaria, in numerous conical and table
shaped heights, with intervals between them which are evidently
the result of erosion. The conglomerate is chiefly composed of
diorite pebbles, and generally appears in two beds separated by a
layer of sand; it rests upon the tertiary marl and must once have
been a continuous layer.