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 

Introduction

I am Mikel Collette, I'm a senior pursuing a degree in Psychology at the University of Colorado at Denver. I've chosen to study the geography of Greece this semester because there are so many geographical forces at play, from the coast of the Mediterranean to the mountains. I am very interested in the geography that have lasted from the ancient Greek civilizations to today, as well as those that have changed.

This is a picture of the Melissani Cave on the Greek island of Kefalonia. It is a beautiful cave that many tourists go, and is referred to in Greek mythology as the Cave of the Nymphs.

image from onebigphoto.com