Aerolithos

In Ano Meria, taking an uphill detour from the path which passes by Mentonis’s Cave, one comes across the Aerolithos area. The “Aerolithos” itself is a large, triangular ledge of dark eclogite rock. This quasi-extraterrestrial form can be seen from afar, and the fact that it stands out so much from the landscape had given inhabitants from long ago the impression that it fell from space, from the air, “aeras” in Greek; hence its name. Eclogites are rock types usually found at great depths; only in a few places in the world, such as Syros, can one study them on the surface of the earth. Indeed, the island is considered one of the most representative locations for viewing eclogites and cyan schist rocks in the world. These two types of rocks formed in the middle of the ocean; it took 80 million years and a journey through pressures at over 100 kilometers below the earth’s surface to be created. The area, an extension of the “Panavlies” region, is of exceptional geological and botanical interest. 

Source: Syriana Grammata, period II, vol I, 2017.