ASPECTS OF ANTIPAROS GEOLOGY

by Alain Préat (*)

(*) Emeritus Professor in Geology at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium.

Geology carving Antiparos

https://apreat.ovh/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/0.pdf

Insights on the Cyclades Geology

Foreword

Having explored the islands of Antiparos, Paros and Milos as a geologist for over 20 years (mainly during holidays), I have observed numerous rocks and structures. I compiled a pdf file on the geology of Antiparos based on my observations and various areas of interest (see above, ‘Geology carving Antiparos’).

In addition to these observations, which anyone can discover when walking on the islands, an important question is how the Cyclades Islands formed?  I have never studied this problem, but being intrigued by the many structures observed on the field, I turned to the bibliography.

And there, the first observation is that there are numerous studies, conducted over more than 100 years, carried out by professionals including sedimentologists, structuralists, geochemists, mineralogists, geophysicists, metallogenists, etc.

All these disciplines were necessary as the formation of the Cyclades is extremely complex, from the smallest to the largest spatial and temporal scales.

I have therefore selected articles dealing with the formation of the Cyclades and illustrated them with informative diagrams. I have mentioned the source (in the form of a web link), and in the texts I have removed the very numerous bibliographical references used by the authors, so as not to make the reading too heavy. Everyone will be able to find these references thanks to the web links.

Finally, I would like to emphasize that the geology of the Cyclades is complex, even for a geologist! I hope that this simplified overview will encourage some of you to explore the subject further by reading the articles mentioned in the text.

http://apreat.ovh/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Aegean-Cyclades.pdf

Nb: A geological time scale is found in: https://stratigraphy.org/chart

Description of two ferruginous rock blocks in Agios Georgios

http://apreat.ovh/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Samples.Ag_.Georgios.pdf