Scala dei Turchi

April 13, 2018

Scala dei Turchi

Photographer: Piero Armando 
Summary Author: Piero Armando 

As shown above, Scala dei Turchi is an impressive, creamy-colored, cliff in southwestern Sicily, between the towns of Realmonte and Porto Empedocle. The name of the cliff (Stair of the Turks in English) comes from its staircase-like appearance and likely from the frequent incursions here by the Saracenic people during the Middle Ages.

Scala dei Turchi is composed of nearly horizontal strata, up to a meter thick, that tell of the changes in the shoreline over the centuries. These layers consist mainly of marlstone, a sedimentary rock formed by carbonate shells of planktonic foraminifera (globigerina) during the Lower Pliocene (Trubi formation). Photo taken on February 10, 2018.

Photo Details: Canon EOS 600D camera; 18-165 mm focal length; f/5.6 aperture; 1/1250 sec, exposure time; ISO 100. 

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