An archipelago situated in the Sicilian Channel 205 km away (Lampedusa) from the Sicilian coast and only 113 km from the Tunisian coast. Lampedusa and Lampione belong geologically to the African continent, Linosa belongs to the geological system of Sicily. Lampedusa covers 20.2 square kilometers, stretches for 11 km from east to west, from West Cape to the East, finishing with three points, Cape Grecale, Punta Parrino, and Punta Sottile, presenting in this area, the maximum width (over 3.5 km). Coastal development reaches 36 km. The island is a limestone plateau sloping from north-west to south-east. The northern coast is high and steep cliffs with irregular features, while the eastern and southern have very jagged cliffs with alternating, repeating and small sandy beaches in deep bays (bays). The island's highest point is the only local trees (133 m) located on the north west. Lampedusa is sedimentary in origin and consists of a succession of limestone-dolomite rocks of the Miocene, the sediments which were deposited in a shallow carbonate platform.
The lower part was deposited in the internal platform, with development of coral reefs particularly in South-East and the paleoenvironment of the upper layers was more secure platform, evidenced by the homogeneity of coral buildings. At the top there are microbial facies (stromatolites) formed in the vicinity of the emergence of the island in the Pliocene (about 2 million years ago) and more recent layers of sand dunes of wind. Linosa has an area of 5.2 square kilometers, is volcanic in nature and its origins are relatively recent (Quaternary old, between 1.3 and 1 million years ago), three mountains surround a hollow center called "the pit of the chaplain," bottom of the crater remnant of a larger and more complex volcano. The main volcanic cones still in place and are inactive Black Mountain to the west, 106 meters high, Mount Volcano, south-east 195 feet high, Red Mountain, north-east, 186 meters high.
Lampione is an uninhabited island with lithology and sedimentary character area of approximately 1.2 square kilometers; is about 10 nautical miles from Lampedusa (18.5 miles) westwards. It 'a tilted limestone plateau with sheer cliffs overlooking the sea, which reach a maximum height of 36 meters. The environmental characteristics of the region in which they are the Pelagie Islands are under the influence of the waters of the Ionian and Aegean being affected by the general circulation of the Mediterranean and Eastern Europe in particular by the current in this environment that brings waters. Another element that plays an important role in the intense hydrodynamic which are subject to the waters of this region is the wave originated from the strong winds that favor upwelling along the coast also recalled warming of surface waters by southerly winds. The area bounded by the waters of these biogeographical islands, despite being marked by distinct characteristics east and south, is diversified in an environment made up of open sea and deep seabed volcanic Linosa and a platform given by the coastal limestone plateau of Lampedusa and streetlight, which marks the outer edge of the continental platform in the shoal of Paps. The three islands in the Pelagian concentrate a certain diversity of coastal marine habitat of great ecological importance. The underwater landscape of the Pelagie is defined by vast prairies of seagrasses. Posidonia is well developed and in good condition especially in Lampedusa, where the seabed slope for the most part "slowly" and which do not exceed a depth of -50 m over a mile from the coastline. The coastline is often characterized by a formation of surface algae of the genus Cystoseira often set to "frames" of shellfish Vermetidi. The bottom again in many places, the external shape of the cliff and has vertical walls to peak until more than 60 meters deep. Lampedusa and the coast is dotted with caves lamp partially open by sea erosion acting on soft limestone made up of rich deposits of fossil algae and carbonate sediments. Diversity is, without doubt, the most striking feature of the Pelagie archipelago. For a diversity of geological origin, landscape, coastal and morphological-diving, is a diversity of habitats, coastal and infralittoral circalittoral, with unique and diverse biological communities. The Pelagian Islands are thus an asset for the biodiversity of the Mediterranean. They are interesting both from the standpoint of terrestrial flora and fauna for the natural value of the seabed. In fact, the three islands have been proposed as Sites of Community Importance (ITA040001 and ITA040002) and as a Special Protection Area (ITA040013) under the EU directives "Habitat" and "Birds". The cetacean fauna in these islands is of great importance by the number of species that live there. In the coastal waters lives a permanent population of dolphins Tursiops truncatus and the surrounding sea is also regularly frequented by other species of dolphin, Delphinus delphis (common dolphin) and Stenella coeruleoalba (striped dolphin) and Balaenoptera physalus, the fin whale, which, during the March and April, in small groups close to the coasts of the islands to feed on schools of small crustaceans fundamental element of his diet. The beach of Lampedusa and rabbits in the western Pozzolana Linosa have to adjust egg-laying sites of Caretta caretta, the loggerhead turtle the most famous in the Mediterranean, and unfortunately, the serious danger of extinction runs.
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