Page 5 - Massoli-Novelli_2005

The main geomorphosites of ... 141

and the residual soil, with its typical reddish colour, has moving counter-clockwise, it is possible to circumnavi-
been subject to fertilisation. The site is surmounted by gate the whole island and have a good view of the
an ancient homestead of the Florio family. numerous geomorphosites located along the coast.
The “Grotta dei Genovesi”, which is located on Most of these, are coastal caves, whose origin is mainly
the island’s western coast, is the main attraction of to be ascribed to the numerous faults which characteri-
Levanzo. Owing to its artistic Palaeolithic engravings se this island (Abate et al. 1996).
and Neolithic paintings, this cave is to be considered an Soon after the small beach of Bagno di Fimmine,
important geomorphosite (4). Another peculiarity of this the interesting “Cave of the Camel” (1) appears, whose
cave is given by the strange scarcity of stalactite/sta- name is derived from an adjacent rock similar in appea-
lagmite concretions, probably due not only to the scar- rance to the head of this animal. This cave was affected
ce rainfall of this island but also to the presence of by the collapse of part of its vault, and the sea water
overlying clayey beds. This cave was formed at the foot inside it is crystal-clear.
of a rock wall made up of monoclinal, seaward-dipping To the north, one of the most prominent geo-
thick beds of Mesozoic limestone. These strata show a morphosites of Marettimo is found: the small promon-
westward dip-downstream attitude. In proximity of this tory of “Punta Troia” (2), well-known for the ancient
cave, both on the rock wall overhanging the entrance to castle that rises on top of it. This site is also important
the cave and along the underlying coast, the strata crop due to particular geological features, such as the per-
out extremely well and with considerable regularity. fect semi-arch which links the promontory to the island,
The land journey along Levanzo’s western coast thus creating a particularly striking landscape.
is quite difficult but eventually one reaches Cala Behind Punta Troia, the “Cave of Thunder” (3) is
Tramontana, which is characterised by a steep calca- found, so called after the roar created by the waves
reous-dolomitic falaise and where a geomorphosite (5) that after breaking on the outer wall of the cave, are
made up of a series of caves named “Grotte di Cala sucked out through a sort of siphon.
Tramontana” is found. These other caves are all located Adjacent to the Cave of Thunder, another intere-
at nearly the same altitude as the Grotta dei Genovesi, sting geomorphosite (4) is found: a gigantic “Talus
some 10-20 m above the present sea level (Fig. 5). The Fan”, indeed the largest fan present on the island. This
Cala Tramontana Caves are larger than the more popu- landform stretches from a canyon high on the cliff as far
lar Grotta dei Genovesi and they too contain prehistoric as the sea-shore, with considerable scenic effect.
and historic remains. All the island’s north-western coast, with its jag-
Geomorphosite no. 6 is Capo Grosso, the island’s ged coastline and spectacular cliffs rising towards the
northern point. This site is particularly interesting top of Mt. Falcone (659 m a.s.l.), forms an extremely
because tectonic and erosional processes have shaped beautiful and rugged landscape. The “Cave of the Pipe”
it as if it had been cut through, giving origin to a magni- (5) is the first to be found. This has a high educational
ficent falaise where thick strata of dolomitic limestone value since, more than any other cave, it clearly shows
are particularly well exposed. This beautiful outcrop that the origin of the coastal caves is often due to tec-
shows west-dipping layers at an angle of about 45°. tonics. In this case, the cavity was developed along a
All the eastern coastline of Levanzo is of the falai- long, partly collapsed, vertical fault. Also “Ficarella
se type. Here, another geomorphosite (7), which is inte- Cave ” (6) was formed at the foot of a long fault: its rock
resting not only from a scenic standpoint, can be admi- walls also show evident marks of sea breakers at about
red at Capo Calcara, where the strata of Mesozoic 5 m a.s.l.
dolomitic limestone were cut by a visible N-S oriented Shortly afterwards, one arrives at what is conside-
fault which has created this little bay. red the most interesting cave, the geomorphosite (7)
named “Bombarda Cave” (Fig. 6), near the headland
2.3 Isle of Marettimo bearing the same name. The cave’s peculiarity is not so
By sailing from the harbour of Marettimo and much given by the fault stretching across its vault but
rather by its geological structu-
re, with thick layers of Mesozoic
dolomitic limestone in sub-hori-
zontal attitude. Practically, the
cave shows long, horizontally
striated walls, slightly changing
in colour. Owing to an optical
effect the horizontal striae seem
to enhance the already conside-
rable depth of this cave.
After Bassano Point – the
southernmost tip of the island –
and before returning to Ma-
Fig. 5 – The steep Cala Tramontana coastline of the isle of Levanzo. It is made up of Mesozoic rettimo, a coastal geomorphosi-
dolomitic limestones and located north of the well-known Grotta dei Genovesi. The “Grotte di
Cala Tramontana” geomorphosite, made up of three main karst caves containing prehistoric te (8) is found along the regular
finds, is also visible (photo by Tamagnini). eastern coast. It consists of one
La ripida costa di Cala Tramontana, isola di Levanzo, composta di calcari dolomitici mesozoici of the very few small beaches of
ed ubicata a nord della nota Grotta dei Genovesi; si nota il gemorfosito “Grotte di Cala the island, the so-called “Praia
Tramontana” dato da tre cavità carsiche principali, anch’esse con reperti preistorici (Foto Nacchere”. Here, a considerable
Tamagnini). fault can be observed just at the