Geology (Architectural & Otherwise) of the Earth's Center, Part 4: Building-Block Basics | Delphi, Phocis, Greece
Gazing southeastward over the portion of the archaeological site just to the east of the Temple of Apollo. Beyond it is the Pleistos rift-valley gorge, floored with olive groves, and the far cliff with some notable rockslide chutes.
The fastigiate (columnar) evergreen trees are that key element of the Greek landscape, Mediterranean Cypresses (Cupressus sempervirens).
And in case you're wondering, the title refers to the fact the ancient Greeks considered Delphi the navel of the world.
As I noted in Part 3, much of ancient Delphi is a world-class collection of fallen-down stones. This is what happens, eventually at least, when architecture meets plate tectonics.
Still, this scene undoubtedly contains a number of different building-stone types worthy of scrutiny—and considerably more, actually, than discussed in A Geological Companion to Greece and the Aegean (Higgins & Higgins, 1996). This should come as no surprise, though, given how immensely important this place was to the ancient Greeks.
I already had some grasp of this petrological complexity when I posted the previous image and description. That shot shows breccia not cited in the Higginses. Fortunately, I then came across a godsend of a technical article, "The Stones of the Sanctuary of Delphi – Northern Shore of the Corinth Gulf – Greece" (De Vals et al., 2020)." This detailed study does not list all the varieties I've discovered in other sources, and while its command of lucid English is pretty dicey, it does provide an exemplary level of detail about the rock types found in and around the Apollo Sanctuary.
So I'm going to make this post my grand inventory, periodically updated as necessary, of all Delphi rock types I've identified so far. I will not mention in this section where specifically they're found, but will show buildings featuring some of them in following posts. For the sedimentary rocks of the Apollo Sanctuary, I closely follow, with much appreciation, the names and other terminology used in de Vals et al.
AUTOCHTHONOUS (present as bedrock in this area; and locally obtained)
1. Parnassus Limestone. Quarried from the Parnassus Massif scarp just above ancient Delphi. Presumably all Cretaceous. Generally a light gray, even when weathered. (De Vals et al. refer to the Parnassus limestones, plural, but I'm just keeping it simple.)
2. Profitis Ilias Limestone. High-quality Cretaceous limestone from the Profitis Ilias locale, approximately 5 km (3.1 mi) west of here. Light gray when fresh, with weathered surfaces a darker, bluish gray.
3. Slope Breccia. This is relithified limestone colluvium from the foot of the Parnassus scarp. Presumably Quaternary in age. Gray clasts in a buff or ocher-colored matrix.
4. Pink Limestone. Pink to gray when fresh, weathering to gray. Ancient source unknown; but this type is currently quarried 12 km (7.5 mi) east of Delphi. Presumably Cretaceous.
5. Rudist Limestone. Dark-tinted and full of Cretaceous bivalve fossils of the rudist group. It's exposed just to the south and west of the archaeological site.
ALLOCHTHONOUS (not present as bedrock in this area; imported from other parts of mainland Greece or the Aegean Islands)
6. Parian Marble. From the isle of Paros, which, geologically speaking, is in the Attic-Cycladic Belt. Much beloved of classical sculptors, this is premium true marble—dove-white, waxy to the touch, and translucent. Its limestone protolith dates to the late Paleozoic or Mesozoic; it was metamorphosed into its present form in the Tertiary.
7. "Poros" Stone Types. Poros is a dreadfully imprecise term denoting a grab-bag of soft, low-density, and easily worked sedimentary rocks ranging from marly limestones to travertines and sandstones. Quarried in such places as Piraeus, Sicyon, and Corinth. Most seem to be Tertiary or Quaternary in age. They are frequently untraceable to a specific source locale.
With this roll-call complete, we can now proceed to such structures as the Temple of Apollo, Polygonal Wall, Theater, and Stadium, and explore what they're made of.
To see the other photos and descriptions in this series, visit my Geology (Architectural & Otherwise) of the Earth's Center album.
Geology (Architectural & Otherwise) of the Earth's Center, Part 4: Building-Block Basics | Delphi, Phocis, Greece
Gazing southeastward over the portion of the archaeological site just to the east of the Temple of Apollo. Beyond it is the Pleistos rift-valley gorge, floored with olive groves, and the far cliff with some notable rockslide chutes.
The fastigiate (columnar) evergreen trees are that key element of the Greek landscape, Mediterranean Cypresses (Cupressus sempervirens).
And in case you're wondering, the title refers to the fact the ancient Greeks considered Delphi the navel of the world.
As I noted in Part 3, much of ancient Delphi is a world-class collection of fallen-down stones. This is what happens, eventually at least, when architecture meets plate tectonics.
Still, this scene undoubtedly contains a number of different building-stone types worthy of scrutiny—and considerably more, actually, than discussed in A Geological Companion to Greece and the Aegean (Higgins & Higgins, 1996). This should come as no surprise, though, given how immensely important this place was to the ancient Greeks.
I already had some grasp of this petrological complexity when I posted the previous image and description. That shot shows breccia not cited in the Higginses. Fortunately, I then came across a godsend of a technical article, "The Stones of the Sanctuary of Delphi – Northern Shore of the Corinth Gulf – Greece" (De Vals et al., 2020)." This detailed study does not list all the varieties I've discovered in other sources, and while its command of lucid English is pretty dicey, it does provide an exemplary level of detail about the rock types found in and around the Apollo Sanctuary.
So I'm going to make this post my grand inventory, periodically updated as necessary, of all Delphi rock types I've identified so far. I will not mention in this section where specifically they're found, but will show buildings featuring some of them in following posts. For the sedimentary rocks of the Apollo Sanctuary, I closely follow, with much appreciation, the names and other terminology used in de Vals et al.
AUTOCHTHONOUS (present as bedrock in this area; and locally obtained)
1. Parnassus Limestone. Quarried from the Parnassus Massif scarp just above ancient Delphi. Presumably all Cretaceous. Generally a light gray, even when weathered. (De Vals et al. refer to the Parnassus limestones, plural, but I'm just keeping it simple.)
2. Profitis Ilias Limestone. High-quality Cretaceous limestone from the Profitis Ilias locale, approximately 5 km (3.1 mi) west of here. Light gray when fresh, with weathered surfaces a darker, bluish gray.
3. Slope Breccia. This is relithified limestone colluvium from the foot of the Parnassus scarp. Presumably Quaternary in age. Gray clasts in a buff or ocher-colored matrix.
4. Pink Limestone. Pink to gray when fresh, weathering to gray. Ancient source unknown; but this type is currently quarried 12 km (7.5 mi) east of Delphi. Presumably Cretaceous.
5. Rudist Limestone. Dark-tinted and full of Cretaceous bivalve fossils of the rudist group. It's exposed just to the south and west of the archaeological site.
ALLOCHTHONOUS (not present as bedrock in this area; imported from other parts of mainland Greece or the Aegean Islands)
6. Parian Marble. From the isle of Paros, which, geologically speaking, is in the Attic-Cycladic Belt. Much beloved of classical sculptors, this is premium true marble—dove-white, waxy to the touch, and translucent. Its limestone protolith dates to the late Paleozoic or Mesozoic; it was metamorphosed into its present form in the Tertiary.
7. "Poros" Stone Types. Poros is a dreadfully imprecise term denoting a grab-bag of soft, low-density, and easily worked sedimentary rocks ranging from marly limestones to travertines and sandstones. Quarried in such places as Piraeus, Sicyon, and Corinth. Most seem to be Tertiary or Quaternary in age. They are frequently untraceable to a specific source locale.
With this roll-call complete, we can now proceed to such structures as the Temple of Apollo, Polygonal Wall, Theater, and Stadium, and explore what they're made of.
To see the other photos and descriptions in this series, visit my Geology (Architectural & Otherwise) of the Earth's Center album.