Gennargentu Mountain Chain on the Island of Sardinia

August 28, 2012

Sardinia

Photographer
: Andrea Columbu
Summary Author Andrea Columbu

The panorama above, composed of six individual photos, shows the Gennargentu mountain chain on the island of Sardinia, Italy. The Gennargentu chain is composed primarily of granitic and metamorphic basement rocks that date from 300-330 million years ago. Punta La Marmora at 6,017 ft (1,834 m) is the highest summit. This chain's orogenesis occurred when the island was still a portion of the European continent. Sardinia and neighboring Corsica both drifted from the continent during the Aquitanian Age (21 million years ago) and reached their nearly current positions during the early Pliocene (4 million years ago). At the base of the mountain chain is the Marghine Plateau. This extensive basaltic plateau formed during the Pliocene-Pleistocene. Photos taken from Macomer, a small village in the center of Sardinia, on February 20, 2012.

Photo Details: Fujifilm FinePix S2500HD camera; Automatic camera settings. Many thanks to Valeria Taurisano for her collaboration in using Photoshop.

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