Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Apennines, in terms of both lithology and orography, are the Calabro Apennines,
which consist essentially of crystalline rocks. Aspromonte (Montalto Mountain,
1955 m) is characterized by a domed top and steep slopes that descend to the sea. It
forms the southern tip of the Italian peninsula. Finally, beyond the Strait of Messina,
the Apennines continue along the northern coast of Sicily as the Siculus Apennines.
They consist of the Peloritan Mountains, which are similar in geological structure
to the Calabrian Apennines, the Nebrodi (or Caronie) and the Madonie mountains.
These last are composed of limestone, marl and sandstone.
4.5.3 The Dinarids and the Hellenids
In the Balkan Peninsula the main mountain ranges are the Dinaric Alps (Outer
and Inner Dinarids, Pelagonides and Hellenides), the Rila-Rodopi Massif, the Stara
Planima Mountains and the East Balkan Uplands (Demek
et al.,
1984). The young-
fold mountains of the Dinarids run from northwest to southeast and about 21% of
the land area lies above the treeline. Mesozoic limestone and dolomites are the main
parent rock types; the Outer Dinarids have the largest contiguous area of karst in Eu-
rope. The Pelagonides run from Sar Planima (elevation 2748 m), a mountain range
in the Balkans that extends from Kosovo and the northwest of the Republic of Mace-
donia to northeastern Albania, through Korab, its highest peak (2764 m), to Tajget
(2409 m) in the south. The Hellenids form the backbone of mainland Greece, run-
ning north-northwest to south-southeast. South of the Peloponnese they disappear
below sea level and take a sharp turn east, reappearing in the south Aegean island
arc, conspicuously as the three large massifs of Crete; further east they continue
in the Cilician and Taurus mountain ranges of southern Anatolia. In north-central
Greece, two shorter, interrupted mountain ranges run more or less parallel to the
Hellenids, and in the northeast are differently oriented ranges with a different geo-
logical history. The highest mountain is Olympus (2917 m), and there are numerous
massifs and peaks above 2000 m throughout mainland Greece and Crete.
The most common soil types in the alpine and subalpine regions of the Balkan
Mountains are: lithosols (widespread in the mountains of the Dinaric and Shara-
Pindos system); Regosols on igneous rocks, crystalline schists and crystalline
dolomites; rendzina on flysch and dolomites; ranker (humus-silicate soil) on
siliceous rocks; calcomelanosol (limestone-dolomite black soil) on limestone and
dolomite; podsol on acid igneous rocks; and brown earth on pure limestone and
dolomite (Filipovski, 1996).
4.6 Eastern Mediterranean mountains:
the Lebanon Mountains
The larger part of Lebanese territory is sloping, often steeply, with gradients rang-
ing between 20 and 60%. However, the coastal area and inner Bekaa plain are
