France: Corsica

Introduction

Corsica is a mountainous island with numerous peaks over 2,000 m, rising to 2,710 m on Monte Cinto. The geological map shows the western part of the island dominated by a dissected crystalline massif of various granites, with an area of acid volcanic formations in the northwest. A corridor of Miocene limestone runs NE from Bonifacio in the far south, and spurs of the same limestone project across the Plain of Aleria in the east. North of Bastia the coast steepens alongside a peninsula of Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks with some Lower Palaeozoic volcanic formations that extends northward to Cap Corse.

The west coast, made of Variscan granites, has a topography produced by marine submergence in which cliff retreat has been very slow. The major ridges trend NE–SW, and the irregular coastline includes rocky promontories and many inlets and coves aligned in this direction. Pleistocene (Tyrrhenian) beaches and dune calcarenites, capped by angular periglacial debris formed during...