The Formation of Greece

Greece is located very close to the boundaries of the Aegean, African, Anatolian, and Eurasian plates of the Earth's crust. The island of Crete is just north of the boundary between the Aegean and African plates where the African plate is subducting beneath the Aegean plate.

A map of the four plates and their boundaries around and through Greece.

A topographical map of Greece and it's surrounding islands

The interaction of these plates has shaped the landscape of Greece in innumerable ways, one of which is the Gulf of Corinth which was formed by the Eurasian and Aegean plates separating. It is one of the most active boundaries in all of Europe, having earthquakes on record of up to magnitude 6.8 on the Richter scale.

Outside information gathered from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aegean_Sea_Plate and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Corinth

Images from: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/world/greece/images/greece_plates.gif and  http://www3.utsidan.se/corax/Maps/greece.jpg