GEOFORMS

Geoforms are specific geological forms or features, which have aesthetic, scientific, cultural or instructive value and should be protected and preserved for present and future generations.  Although geologists have known about the value of geoforms, it is only recently that they have become better known to the public.

They are natural monuments, which were formed throughout geological time by means of a variety of geologic processes, including denudation (erosion, weathering and transport), deposition, earth movements, metamorphism and igneous activity. Some of them were revealed by the action of Man in relation to activities such as road construction, mining and quarrying.

Systematic and coordinated efforts were made by UNESCO to record these natural monuments and heritage into the national and international catalogues.

A number of geoforms have been identified, recorded and described (Figure GF1), and several of them have already been included in official catalogues in Cyprus. The better known geoforms in Cyprus include the flat topped, steep sided hills called “mesa” (Photos GF1, GF2), characteristic of the Mesaoria Plain, gorges (Photos GF3, Avakas), fossil sites (Photos GF5, GF18), caves formed in gypsum or limestone (Photos GF7, GFM1, GFM2, GFM3, GFM4, GFM5), rock and mineral outcrops (Photos GF8, GF9, GF10, GF11, GF12, GF19, GFRM1, GFRM2, GFRM3), prominent rock blocks (Photos GF13, GF14), mixed sulphide (copper) mines (Photos GF15, GF16), umber exposures (Photo GF17) and sea–borne pumice deposits.