UKH

A quick geology question please. Can anyine tell me in general terms when limestone was formed. I presume it depends where it is. In this case Malta.

We're on hols in Malta at the moment and have seen places like the Blue Grotto etc.  I am marvelling at how long the caves must have taken to form  and how long the rock would have been there before that.

Fascinating stuff

The deposits were laid down 30 to 25 million years ago in the Oligocene to late Miocene, the island was pushed to the surface about 10 million years ago by the collision of the African and Eurasian tectonic plates. The rocks will have been subject to weathering, erosion and solution since then.

Many thanks for that.

but as you suggested, limestones can be of varying ages, at least as far back as the Cambrian (eg Durness limestones, circa 500 million years ago)

Not in Malta they can’t 

didn't say they were, but in general they do vary in age

Does make you realise how short our time on Earth is, both individually and as a species not to mention how long the limestone formations as we see them today must have taken to form and how many tiny creatures there must have been.

It was all done in a week

And to think some people believe that!

But there was that short weekend.

Today we did the War Rooms having already been to the museum at Fort St. Elmo.

Incredible admiration fir how the Maltese stood up in the face of adversity and what a sight it must have been when the relief convoy eventually arrived.

It's all down to project management. Clearly God had it all sorted. Noah on the other hand, slacker, from a quick Google it seems he took about 50 years to build the ark, having squandered the first 50 after the notice of intended flooding.

Then, clearly with a rocket up his arse from him up there, he fills the thing in 7 days. No wonder he forgot to load the dinosaurs.

Hence all the limestone. Don't forget, you only find fossils of dead animals - proof of the flood.

I’d be surprised to find fossils of live ones. There are naturally abundant fossils of plants as well.

Can you be more specific?

About what?

It was a joke. Your response was fabulously detailed and very informative.

I’m a geologist ... being fabulous is just part of the training

That's nothing - some people believe all of space and matter was created in a fraction of a second, something like 10^-43s.  If that were true, imagine what someone of ability (such as God) could accomplish in seven days!

It had to be to keep up with Gay's new routing!

Whose new routing?!

Apologies to Gary Gibson. Tired eyes and fat thumbs are my excuse!