DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2532#0113
92
THE GEOLOGY OF,THE IIERAEUM REGION
but which now at several places is no longer above sea level, so that without doubt a
sinking must have taken place since that time. Whether this sinking is going on at
the present day is not known, nor, if so, whether the deposition of sediment is taking
place along the shore at a greater rate, with consequent seaward growth of shore line.
The latter is probably the case.
At any rate, it is certain that in its general features the Argive plain has changed
little in historical times; and although to-day considered one of the most fertile districts
of Peloponnesus, the characterization of TroXvStxfjbov given it by Homer (II. iv. 171) still
applies to it. It is probable that, like the rest of Greece, it was once far better wooded
and watered than at present, and that it is consequently dryer, sandier, and less well
cultivated than of yore, the deforesting of the surrounding mountains not only tending
to dry up the streams, but also allowing more rapid and extensive denudation, and a
consequent increased deposition of detritus on the plain below.
The Argive plain is drained by several streams, of which only the Erasinos, on the
southwest, contains water throughout the year. The others, Dervenaki, Panitza (Inachus),
Xerias, and several more of less importance, have for the greater part of the year dry
beds, covered with rounded limestone pebbles, not even a brook trickling through them.
On occasions, as at the melting1 of the winter snows or
during
heavy rainfalls, they
become for a few days or hours raging torrents, which, as certain visitors and members
of our party have good cause to remember, are awkward to cross. At these times they
overflow their low banks, and cover considerable areas of the surrounding land with
mud, sand, and pebbles.
Neogene. — Bounding the Argive plain on the north is an area of conglomerate
belonging to the Late Tertiary (Neogene) Period. This is a southerly extension of the
Tertiary belt which stretches along the north coast of Peloponnesus as far as Pylos.
The Tertiary is the j>eriod preceding the present or Quaternary, and the fossils found
in the Late Tertiary indicate (for Europe, at least) a climate and set of conditions less
tropical than during the Early Tertiary, and more nearly like those prevailing at present.
Tlie road from Corinth to Argos, as far as Phichtia, runs through deposits of this age,
and in it are excavated the beehive tombs of Mycenae. The rock south of Nemea is
chiefly a coarse conglomerate formed of limestone pebbles imbedded in a fine calcareous
cement. The same rock is found at the foothills traversed by the path which leads from
the Heraeum to Mycenae.
Eocene. — The lower flanks of the Arcadian Mountains, bounding the Argive plain
on the west, are composed of a very fine-grained, light-colored limestone, which splits
readily into slabs. This limestone (the Olonos-KalTc of Philippson)' underlies Neogene
conglomerate to the north, and belongs to the Early Tertiary Period, when the climate
of Greece was far more tropical than now. The hill crowned by the ancient citadel of
Argos (Larisa) is composed of this limestone.
Cretaceous. — To the east of the Argive plain we meet with the oldest rocks of this
region, — limestones, shales, and sandstones of Lower Eocene, Cretaceous, and possibly
Jurassic age. The slopes from east of Merbaka southward to about Nauplia are com-
posed of shales and sandstones (Philippson's Lygourio-Schiefer)? which dip to the
south.
Northward as far as Hagios Vasilios, on the railroad, and eastward to the Gulf of
Aegina, the mountain masses of Hagia Trias, Tzernikelo, Trapezona, and Arachnaeon are
1 Op. cit. pp. 400 ff. - 0/>. cit. pp. 53, 390.
THE GEOLOGY OF,THE IIERAEUM REGION
but which now at several places is no longer above sea level, so that without doubt a
sinking must have taken place since that time. Whether this sinking is going on at
the present day is not known, nor, if so, whether the deposition of sediment is taking
place along the shore at a greater rate, with consequent seaward growth of shore line.
The latter is probably the case.
At any rate, it is certain that in its general features the Argive plain has changed
little in historical times; and although to-day considered one of the most fertile districts
of Peloponnesus, the characterization of TroXvStxfjbov given it by Homer (II. iv. 171) still
applies to it. It is probable that, like the rest of Greece, it was once far better wooded
and watered than at present, and that it is consequently dryer, sandier, and less well
cultivated than of yore, the deforesting of the surrounding mountains not only tending
to dry up the streams, but also allowing more rapid and extensive denudation, and a
consequent increased deposition of detritus on the plain below.
The Argive plain is drained by several streams, of which only the Erasinos, on the
southwest, contains water throughout the year. The others, Dervenaki, Panitza (Inachus),
Xerias, and several more of less importance, have for the greater part of the year dry
beds, covered with rounded limestone pebbles, not even a brook trickling through them.
On occasions, as at the melting1 of the winter snows or
during
heavy rainfalls, they
become for a few days or hours raging torrents, which, as certain visitors and members
of our party have good cause to remember, are awkward to cross. At these times they
overflow their low banks, and cover considerable areas of the surrounding land with
mud, sand, and pebbles.
Neogene. — Bounding the Argive plain on the north is an area of conglomerate
belonging to the Late Tertiary (Neogene) Period. This is a southerly extension of the
Tertiary belt which stretches along the north coast of Peloponnesus as far as Pylos.
The Tertiary is the j>eriod preceding the present or Quaternary, and the fossils found
in the Late Tertiary indicate (for Europe, at least) a climate and set of conditions less
tropical than during the Early Tertiary, and more nearly like those prevailing at present.
Tlie road from Corinth to Argos, as far as Phichtia, runs through deposits of this age,
and in it are excavated the beehive tombs of Mycenae. The rock south of Nemea is
chiefly a coarse conglomerate formed of limestone pebbles imbedded in a fine calcareous
cement. The same rock is found at the foothills traversed by the path which leads from
the Heraeum to Mycenae.
Eocene. — The lower flanks of the Arcadian Mountains, bounding the Argive plain
on the west, are composed of a very fine-grained, light-colored limestone, which splits
readily into slabs. This limestone (the Olonos-KalTc of Philippson)' underlies Neogene
conglomerate to the north, and belongs to the Early Tertiary Period, when the climate
of Greece was far more tropical than now. The hill crowned by the ancient citadel of
Argos (Larisa) is composed of this limestone.
Cretaceous. — To the east of the Argive plain we meet with the oldest rocks of this
region, — limestones, shales, and sandstones of Lower Eocene, Cretaceous, and possibly
Jurassic age. The slopes from east of Merbaka southward to about Nauplia are com-
posed of shales and sandstones (Philippson's Lygourio-Schiefer)? which dip to the
south.
Northward as far as Hagios Vasilios, on the railroad, and eastward to the Gulf of
Aegina, the mountain masses of Hagia Trias, Tzernikelo, Trapezona, and Arachnaeon are
1 Op. cit. pp. 400 ff. - 0/>. cit. pp. 53, 390.