Aphrodite’s mythical birthplace ‘Petra tou Romiou’ is an interesting geological formation of huge rocks along one of the most beautiful coastlines on the island, located on the southwest coast of the Pafos. This is also known as Aphrodite’s Rock. One of the famous beaches in Cyprus and thousand of people visit every year. As the name implies, its a large rock in the depth of ocean with a lot of myth and full of stories. And it is also possible to observe a exceptional geological formation, a natural sea window.
Natural windows / archs are created by erosion in the microscopic and macroscopic area. Microscopically this is, for example, the dissolution of cement, macroscopically the formation of fracture by e.g. tectonic processes. Both types of formation can be separated or combined. Most natural arches are formed from narrow fins and sea stacks composed of sandstone or limestone with steep, often vertical, cliff faces. The formations become narrower due to erosion over geologic time scales. The softer rock stratum erodes away creating rock shelters, or alcoves, on opposite sides of the formation beneath the relatively harder stratum, or caprock, above it. The alcoves erode further into the formation eventually meeting underneath the harder caprock layer, thus creating an arch. The erosional processes exploit weaknesses in the softer rock layers making cracks larger and removing material more quickly than the caprock; however, the caprock itself continues to erode after an arch has formed, which will ultimately lead to collapse.
At this arch the force of the surf conveyed sand and stones, which created this arch out of the rock.
On coasts two different types of arches can form depending on the geology. On discordant coastlines rock types run at 90° to the coast. Wave refraction concentrates the wave energy on the headland, and an arch forms when caves break through the headland. When these arches eventually collapse, they form stacks and stumps. On concordant coastlines rock types run parallel to the coastline, with weak rock such as shale protected by stronger rock such as limestone. The wave action along concordant coastlines breaks through the strong rock and then erodes the weak rock very quickly.
Life cycle of archs:
How to log this cache:
To log this cache, take a picture of sea window at the coordinates. You also need to answer the following questions and answers send me to email in the profile:
1. Look at the arch in front of you. What do you think, is the coastline here, concordant or discordant?
2. The rock is crucial for the creation of a natural arch. Which type of rock is created this sea window?
3. Look around exactly. How many "windows" can you recognize?
4. According to pic: „Life cycle of arches“ which phases (A,B,C,D,E,F) can you observe on the published coordinates?
5. Please post a photo of yourself, or GPS with sea window on posted coordinates.
Feel free to log this cache. You do not need to wait for permission to log. If your answers are not correct, incomplete, I will contact you by e-mail. But if your e-mail is not coming to me within 3 days from your log, I will delete your log without notice.
If you want you can also get closer to the natural arch.
But please be careful on the on slippery rocks!
Πώς να καταγράψετε αυτήν την προσωρινή μνήμη:
Για να καταγράψετε αυτήν την κρυφή μνήμη, τραβήξτε μια φωτογραφία του παραθύρου της θάλασσας στις συντεταγμένες. Πρέπει επίσης να απαντήσετε στις ακόλουθες ερωτήσεις και απαντήσεις στείλτε μου στο email στο προφίλ:
1. Κοιτάξτε την αψίδα μπροστά σας. Τι πιστεύετε, είναι η ακτογραμμή εδώ, σύμφωνη ή ασύμφωνη?
2. Ο βράχος είναι καθοριστικός για τη δημιουργία μιας φυσικής καμάρας. Ποιος τύπος βράχου δημιουργείται αυτό το παράθυρο της θάλασσας?
3. Κοιτάξτε γύρω σας ακριβώς. Πόσα «παράθυρα» μπορείτε να αναγνωρίσετε?
4. Σύμφωνα με την εικόνα: «Κύκλος ζωής των τόξων» ποιες φάσεις (A,B,C,D,E,F) μπορείτε να παρατηρήσετε στις δημοσιευμένες συντεταγμένες?
5. Δημοσιεύστε μια φωτογραφία σας ή GPS με παράθυρο στη θάλασσα στις αναρτημένες συντεταγμένες.
Μη διστάσετε να καταγράψετε αυτήν την προσωρινή μνήμη. Δεν χρειάζεται να περιμένετε για άδεια για να συνδεθείτε. Εάν οι απαντήσεις σας δεν είναι σωστές, ελλιπείς, θα επικοινωνήσω μαζί σας μέσω e-mail. Αλλά εάν το e-mail σας δεν έρθει σε εμένα εντός 3 ημερών από το αρχείο καταγραφής σας, θα διαγράψω το αρχείο καταγραφής σας χωρίς προειδοποίηση.
Αν θέλετε μπορείτε επίσης να πλησιάσετε τη φυσική καμάρα.
Αλλά σας παρακαλώ να είστε προσεκτικοί στα ολισθηρά βράχια!
