Remarks on the Geology of the Island of Samos

Abstract

The island is divided into two equal parts by a high mountain running transversely across from the north to the south shore, and attaining a height of 4000 feet. The ancient as well as modern name of this range is Ampeloni. Besides Mount Ampeloni, there are two other conspicuous mountains rising at the two extremes of the island. The western one, Mount Kerki, is the highest point in the island and is 4000 feet above the sea. The eastern mountain is the least in elevation of the three, and does not exceed 1200 feet. Mounts Kerki and Ampeloni are composed of a mass of crystalline limestone overlying mica schists, but whether conformably I had no opportunity of observing; neither can I speak of the amount and direction of the dip of these older rocks; in Mount Kerki however the dip was considerable, whilst in Ampeloni and the eastern mountain it is not great; in the latter indeed the strata are nearly horizontal, so that the schistose rocks do not appear at all. These mountains are connected together by a series of flat-topped hills and ridges from 400 to 800 feet in height. The deposits forming these are all of freshwater origin, and appear by their fossils to be identical with the lacustrine formations on the shores of the Gulf of Smyrna and the island of Scio, which have been described on a former occasion, and are supposed to be of eocene date. The portion of the island of Samos described