Geology
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matera
THE PARCO DELLA MURGIA MATERANA
Geology
Murgia Matera represents the western end of the Murge Puglia: it looks like a mighty relief limestone emerging from a more gentle hills .
Based on the limestone base to turn layers of Plio-Pleistocene calcarenites (Gravina calcarenite), whose thickness can reach the 50 m.
Morphological elements of great impact on the landscape are given by the erosion furrows that variously shape the plateau;
among all, The most spectacular is the "Gravina di Matera", example of a canyon of 70 ~ 80 ml of deep rich lateral meanders and tributaries, that has sub-vertical walls and vaults and terraces shaped by bumps, small isolated peaks, pinnacles, hanging valleys etc..
The area of Murgia Timone, where is the park visitor center, was once part of an island formed by sediments of limestone (Altamura Limestone – Cretaceous 70 million years ago).
The sides of this island, part of a vast archipelago, were later covered by carbonate deposits, known by the name of "tuff", yellowish when they are visible to the naked eye fragments of macrofossils.
(Gravina calcarenite – Pliocene – Pleistocene about 2 million years ago).
From “Piazzale Belvedere”is easily identifiable boundary between the two configurations represented by the panoramic road junction of two districts "Sassi".
Tuff because of its porosity, determined by numerous gaps that separate the granules, itself so easily through water;
limestone in the water because they have access, is essential to the presence of cracks.
These characters have helped the karst phenomenon, through the erosive action of water has resulted in aggressive forms such as typical: Roadway fields, Valley, numerous sinkholes and caves that dot the plateau.
But the clearest sign, geological evolution of millions of years, is the deep gorge carved into the rock: The Gravina of Matera, crossed homonymous river valleys and its related.
