Day 5, Locality 5

5) Axylou-Amargeti road, 5 km east of Paphos:

Along the earlier minor road between Timi, Anarita and Axylou, numerous roadside sections expose the serpentinite screens which are the arcuate shear planes along which Mamonia lithologies have been juxtaposed with Troodos and more recent sedimentary lithologies during rotation of the Troodos Microplate. Troodos lithologies tend to be dark, grey-green in colour, while the Mamonia rocks are often more rusty in colour. The serpentinite screens are black. You should be able to view these from the coach as we drive through.

Driving through Axylou, the white-coloured road cutting, possibly glistening in the sunshine, is Kalavassos Formation evaporites of Messinian age. The F622 road continues to Eledio village, 500m north of Axylou. A track on the lefthand side shows Messinian age gypsiferous evaporitic sediments and alabasters. The sections show brecciated gypsum horizons together with beds of fine-grained selenitic gypsum muds.

The fine sediments are composed mainly of tiny selenite crystals together with minor proportions of mud. The brecciated horizons represent massive gypsum beds as blocks and smaller angular clasts in a finer grained selenitic gypsum groundmass. Farther along the F622 road towards Amargeti junction, massive gypsum horizons are also developed. These are composed totally of huge bladed selenite gypsum crystals, many over 1 m in length, and many are twinned. Very collectable specimens should be available from this second locality.