The Eurotas ( grc, Εὐρώτας) or Evrotas (modern Greek: ) is the main river of
Laconia
Laconia or Lakonia ( el, Λακωνία, , ) is a historical and administrative region of Greece located on the southeastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. Its administrative capital is Sparta. The word ''laconic''—to speak in a blunt, c ...
and one of the major rivers of the
Peloponnese
The Peloponnese (), Peloponnesus (; el, Πελοπόννησος, Pelopónnēsos,(), or Morea is a peninsula and geographic regions of Greece, geographic region in southern Greece. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmu ...
, in
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
. The river's springs are located just northwest of the border between Laconia and
Arcadia
Arcadia may refer to:
Places Australia
* Arcadia, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney
* Arcadia, Queensland
* Arcadia, Victoria
Greece
* Arcadia (region), a region in the central Peloponnese
* Arcadia (regional unit), a modern administrative un ...
, at
Skortsinos
Skortsinos ( el, Σκορτσινός) is a village in the municipal unit Falaisia, Arcadia (regional unit), Arcadia, Greece, Greek. It is situated on a hillside south of the mountain Tsemperou, close to the border with Laconia. It is 5 km southeas ...
. The river is also fed by underwater springs at
Pellana
Pellana (; Greek: ἡ Πέλλανα, Paus. iii. 20. § 2; τὰ Πέλλανα, Strabo viii. p. 386; Πελλήνη, Xen. ''Hell.'' vii. 5. § 9; Polyb. iv. 81, xvi. 37; Plut. ''Agis'', 8), was a city of ancient Lacedaemonia, on the Eur ...
and by tributaries coursing down from Mt. Taygetos and Mt. Parnon, which flank the Eurotas valley to the west and east, respectively. The river is long, flowing in a north-south direction and emptying into the
Laconian Gulf The Laconian Gulf ( el, Λακωνικός Κόλπος, translit=Lakonikos Kolpos), is a gulf in the south-eastern Peloponnese, in Greece. It is the southernmost gulf in Greece and the largest in the Peloponnese.
In the shape of an inverted "U", ...
. Its
drainage basin
A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, t ...
is .
Etymology
The classical Eurotas was changed to Iri in the Middle Ages and only changed back to Eurotas in recent times. Eurotas, however, is not the most ancient name of the river. It does not appear in the works of
Homer
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...
, which purport to recount the stories and geography of
Mycenaean Greece
Mycenaean Greece (or the Mycenaean civilization) was the last phase of the Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in ...
. In that legendary time, the
Dorians
The Dorians (; el, Δωριεῖς, ''Dōrieîs'', singular , ''Dōrieús'') were one of the four major ethnic groups into which the Hellenes (or Greeks) of Classical Greece divided themselves (along with the Aeolians, Achaeans, and Ionians) ...
are not known to have been present in the Eurotas Valley. At some time prior to being called Eurotas, the river was the Bomycas and the Himeras.
One etymology derives the word Eurōtas from the
ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
eurōs (εὐρώς), "mold".. The adjective, eurōeis, "moldy," is genuinely ancient, used as an epithet of
Hades
Hades (; grc-gre, ᾍδης, Háidēs; ), in the ancient Greek religion and myth, is the god of the dead and the king of the underworld, with which his name became synonymous. Hades was the eldest son of Cronus and Rhea, although this also ...
in Homer. It is, however, in the
Ionic dialect
Ionic Greek ( grc, Ἑλληνικὴ Ἰωνική, Hellēnikē Iōnikē) was a subdialect of the Attic–Ionic or Eastern dialect group of Ancient Greek.
History
The Ionic dialect appears to have originally spread from the Greek mainland acr ...
.
Geography
Physical
Sources
The source of the Eurotas River is a surface
spring
Spring(s) may refer to:
Common uses
* Spring (season)
Spring, also known as springtime, is one of the four temperate seasons, succeeding winter and preceding summer. There are various technical definitions of spring, but local usage of ...
called Piges Evrota (Πηγές Ευρώτα, "Eurotas Springs") located near the village of
Skortsinos
Skortsinos ( el, Σκορτσινός) is a village in the municipal unit Falaisia, Arcadia (regional unit), Arcadia, Greece, Greek. It is situated on a hillside south of the mountain Tsemperou, close to the border with Laconia. It is 5 km southeas ...
,
Arcadia
Arcadia may refer to:
Places Australia
* Arcadia, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney
* Arcadia, Queensland
* Arcadia, Victoria
Greece
* Arcadia (region), a region in the central Peloponnese
* Arcadia (regional unit), a modern administrative un ...
, by the side of the road ascending from Kyparissi. The spring is an outlet of an
aquifer
An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing, permeable rock, rock fractures, or unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or silt). Groundwater from aquifers can be extracted using a water well. Aquifers vary greatly in their characterist ...
located in the adjacent
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
ridge at a locale called Kephalari. The ridge, a
karst
Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ro ...
, is not part of the
Taygetus
The Taygetus, Taugetus, Taygetos or Taÿgetus ( el, Ταΰγετος, Taygetos) is a mountain range on the Peloponnese peninsula in Southern Greece. The highest mountain of the range is Mount Taygetus, also known as "Profitis Ilias", or "Prophet ...
Massif, but, like the other mountains of Arcadia, is a nappe raised by the compressional forces on the
Hellenic Plate
The Aegean Sea Plate (also called the Hellenic Plate or Aegean Plate) is a small tectonic plate located in the eastern Mediterranean Sea under southern Greece and western Turkey. Its southern edge is the Hellenic subduction zone south of Crete, ...
by the subduction of Africa. The spring is also called Logaras Spring.
Logaras Spring supplies an anciently constructed catchment basin about the size of a pond, sometimes called a lake, which exits both to irrigation channels and to the Alpheios stream (not to be confused with the
Alpheios
The Alfeiós or Alpheios ( el, Αλφειός, grc, Ἀλφειός, Latin Alpheus) is the main stream of the Alpheios Valley drainage system, a dendritic type, originating on the north slopes of Mount Taygetus, located in the center of the Pelo ...
river in the northwestern Peloponnese). The flow is copious except in times of drought. A recent study measured the outflow through the catchment exit every 15 days for 540 days in 2006-2007. It recorded a maximum of 1748 cubic m per hour and a minimum of 310.5 cubic m per hour. From the catchment at an altitude of part of the water flows into the Alpheios stream, which enters the upper Eurotas.
The Laconian Alpheios stream is unconnected with the Alpheios river in
Arcadia
Arcadia may refer to:
Places Australia
* Arcadia, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney
* Arcadia, Queensland
* Arcadia, Victoria
Greece
* Arcadia (region), a region in the central Peloponnese
* Arcadia (regional unit), a modern administrative un ...
. The identity of their names comes from an ancient geologic misunderstanding that the Eurotas and the Apheios were connected underground, which deceived even
Pausanias Pausanias ( el, Παυσανίας) may refer to:
*Pausanias of Athens, lover of the poet Agathon and a character in Plato's ''Symposium''
*Pausanias the Regent, Spartan general and regent of the 5th century BC
* Pausanias of Sicily, physician of t ...
, one of the best ancient geographers. He believed they had the same source but that the outflow stream disappeared into a chasm only to emerge at different locations as different streams. In the most exaggerated form of the myth, the Alpheios continues under the Mediterranean to Sicily or elsewhere.
Main stream
Today, the river is hydromorphologically far from its natural state. The main problem is anthropogenic abstraction of water, by many methods, from the shallow aquifer through which it flows. The valley contains about 7000 wells. Water is directly removed by irrigation ditches, weirs, and pumping stations. Consequently, the river is intermittent; large sections are typically dry of surface water, even though water still flows in the aquifers. Flash flooding is a problem. Through flood control, the riverbed has been widened in places and straightened, and the vegetation has been removed from its sides. The lower river runs between dikes in a long, straight course.
Tributaries
Most of the numerous tributaries of the Eurotas are right-bank, feeding the shallow aquifer. They are, however, intermittent and ephemeral. The major ones have cut deep ravines into the Taygetus Massif. The few left-bank tributaries, receiving waters from the deep aquifer, are more substantial, but still intermittent.
The classical Oineus was changed to Kelefina in the Middle Ages and not restored to its ancient name until recent times. The current Magoulitsa was formerly the Trypiotiko.
Delta
The rich alluvial soil through which the final 10 km of the Eurotas flows was not there in antiquity. The Eurotas has aggraded the innermost bay of the gulf. The old coastline can be approximated by a line on the periphery of the plain of
Elos
Elos ( el, Έλος, before 1930: Δουραλί - ''Dourali'') is a village and a former municipality in Laconia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Evrotas, of which it is a municipal unit. ...
marking the border within which prehistoric archaeological sites are not found. The line on the west follows the
Skala
Skala may refer to:
Places Greece
* Skala, Patmos, the main port on the island of Patmos in Greece
* Skala, Laconia, a municipality in southern Greece
* Skala, Xanthi, a settlement in north-eastern Greece
* Skala, Cephalonia, a resort in the ...
-
Gytheion
Gytheio ( el, Γύθειο, ) or Gythio, also the ancient Gythium or Gytheion ( grc, Γύθειον), is a town on the eastern shore of the Mani Peninsula, and a former municipality in Laconia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government ...
road to Skala, the Skala-
Molaoi
Molaoi ( el, Μολάοι) is a town and a former municipality in Laconia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Monemvasia, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit. The municipal unit has a ...
road to Vlachiotis, southeast along the edge of the rising terrain to Asteri and south from there to the coast. Due to changes in sea level, some land on the flanks of the gulf has been drowned.
The current communities of Elos, Leimonas and Agioi Taxiarches have been constructed on aggraded land. As Pausanias mentions that Elos was a port city, the current Elos cannot be identified with it. Skala, on the other hand, means "place of embarkation." The location of the ancient port, however, is not yet known for certain.
Political
Legendary pre-Hellenic tribe
In Greek legend, the human ancestor of all the peoples that inhabited the Eurotas Valley was
Lelex
In Greek mythology, Lelex (; Ancient Greek: Λέλεξ, ''gen.'' Λέλεγος) was one of the original inhabitants of Laconia which was called after him, its first king, Lelegia.
Mythology
Lelex was said to be autochthonous or his father w ...
,
eponym
An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''.
Usage of the word
The term ''epon ...
ous king of the
Leleges
The Leleges (; grc-gre, Λέλεγες) were an aboriginal people of the Aegean region, before the Greeks arrived. They were distinct from another pre-Hellenic people of the region, the Pelasgians. The exact areas to which they were native are un ...
, one of the peoples of the eastern Aegean whom the classical writers saw as autochthonous; that is, indigenous and pre-Hellenic. His son or grandson was
Eurotas
In Greek mythology, Eurotas (; Ancient Greek: Εὐρώτας) was a king of Laconia. Family
Eurotas was the son of King Myles of Laconia and grandson of Lelex, eponymous ancestor of the Leleges. The '' Bibliotheca'' gave a slight variant of the ...
, the last of the line. The latter had a daughter, Sparta, but no sons. An outsider married her,
Lacedaemon
Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referre ...
. Although he named the state Sparta after her, his name is now known to have most likely been the name of the Mycenaean state.
Mycenaean, or
late Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
Greece is generally conceded to be Achaean Greek on the evidence of the
Linear B
Linear B was a syllabic script used for writing in Mycenaean Greek, the earliest attested form of Greek. The script predates the Greek alphabet by several centuries. The oldest Mycenaean writing dates to about 1400 BC. It is descended from ...
Dorians
The Dorians (; el, Δωριεῖς, ''Dōrieîs'', singular , ''Dōrieús'') were one of the four major ethnic groups into which the Hellenes (or Greeks) of Classical Greece divided themselves (along with the Aeolians, Achaeans, and Ionians) ...
were present they were not in any capacity overtly recorded by the surviving administrative records; however, most of the records have not survived, so in reality we do not know. Hypothetically, if the Leleges really were in the Eurotas valley, the time of their ascendancy would have been before Mycenaean times.
Until the late 20th century, evidence in the valley of earlier occupation seemed to be lacking. Beginning in 1968 the
University of Cambridge
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
began a survey by underwater archaeology of a drowned town between Pounta on the mainland and
Elafonisos
Elafonisos ( el, Ελαφόνησος) is a small Greek island between the Peloponnese and Kythira. It lies off the coast of Cape Malea and Vatika. The area of the island is .
Overview
The population is between 300 and 350 during the winter bu ...
island on the eastern side of the
Laconian Gulf The Laconian Gulf ( el, Λακωνικός Κόλπος, translit=Lakonikos Kolpos), is a gulf in the south-eastern Peloponnese, in Greece. It is the southernmost gulf in Greece and the largest in the Peloponnese.
In the shape of an inverted "U", ...
. The town extended over the entire drowned isthmus from 60 rock-cut tombs on the Pounta shore (a beach) to the remains of walls on
Pavlopetri
The city of Pavlopetri ( el, Παυλοπέτρι), in Vatika Bay underwater off the coast of southern Laconia in Peloponnese, Greece, is about 5,000 years old, making it the oldest submerged city known in the world. Pavlopetri is unique in ha ...
island off Elafonisos. A subsequent survey in 2009 discovered even earlier parts of the town and recovered additional pottery. A chronological study was done on "442 ceramic items, an iron nail and an obsidian chip." More research on the site is planned.
The town was apparently continuously occupied from the late Neolithic to Byzantine times when it was drowned, perhaps by an earthquake. Neolithic ceramics were only 3% of the 444 items. The town was mainly Early Bronze Age, which had 40%. The early Helladic pottery is "standard ... some showing close links with the
Cyclades
The Cyclades (; el, Κυκλάδες, ) are an island group in the Aegean Sea, southeast of mainland Greece and a former administrative prefecture of Greece. They are one of the island groups which constitute the Aegean archipelago. The nam ...
, western
Crete
Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...
and the northeastern Aegean." The "15% Middle Bronze Age" is represented by middle Helladic and
middle Minoan
The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age Aegean civilization on the island of Crete and other Aegean Islands, whose earliest beginnings were from 3500BC, with the complex urban civilization beginning around 2000BC, and then declining from 1450B ...
. This archaeological scenario is not incompatible with the Aegean distribution of the Leleges, although it is not possible to say who the early and middle Bronze Age inhabitants were.
The late Bronze Age had 25% of the items. Classical and Byzantine items were minimal, indicating a probable near abandonment of the city at the end of the late Bronze Age.
Mycenaean Lacedaemon
Archaeology has provided a more complete story for the Mycenaean period. On the left bank of the Eurotas, across from Sparta, is a ridge on which sits a temple called the ''Menelaon''. In the 20th century a survey by the British School of Archaeology revealed that the entire ridge, located in the municipal unit of
Therapnes
Therapnes ( el, Θεράπνες) is a municipal unit (''dimotiki enotita'') of the municipality (''dimos'') of Sparti within the regional unit (''perifereiaki enotita'') of Laconia in the region (''perifereia'') of Peloponnese, one of 13 regions i ...
, ancient Therapnē, had been covered by a walled Mycenaean town, dated to the
late Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
by the late Helladic (LH3) pottery with some middle Helladic (MH) pottery in "pockets in the bedrock." The archaeologists analyzing the site recognized a building Period I, dated between LH2B–LH3A1, the latter being brought to and end about 1425 BCE by a severe earthquake. Remains of a mansion with
Minoan
The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age Aegean civilization on the island of Crete and other Aegean Islands, whose earliest beginnings were from 3500BC, with the complex urban civilization beginning around 2000BC, and then declining from 1450B ...
pottery date from Period I.
During Period IA, the hill settlement was rebuilt. The structures included kilns for smelting bronze. In Period II, dated to LH3A1, a villa-type structure was built of a terrace formed from previous building material further down to the south. It was probably two-story,
megaron
The megaron (; grc, μέγαρον, ), plural ''megara'' , was the great hall in very early Mycenean and ancient Greek palace complexes. Architecturally, it was a rectangular hall that was surrounded by four columns, fronted by an open, two ...
-type, with "less substantial walls" but "a massive foundation for what could be a defense tower." It was connected to the top by stairs. Period III, LH3A2–LH3B2, begins with 150 years of apparent abandonment and then a limited reconstruction of a one-story structure on the terrace. The staircase was blocked. The entire ridge was intensely occupied leaving a profusion of Mycenaean pottery. The villa was burned at the end of LH3B2, leaving a destruction level. Two persons buried in the associated rubble appear to have died violently. Occupation of the hill went on through the
Greek Dark Age
The term Greek Dark Ages refers to the period of Greek history from the end of the Mycenaean palatial civilization, around 1100 BC, to the beginning of the Archaic age, around 750 BC. Archaeological evidence shows a widespread collapse ...
, reduced to the Menelaon shrine in the Archaic and Classical Periods. Dedications to
Menelaus
In Greek mythology, Menelaus (; grc-gre, Μενέλαος , 'wrath of the people', ) was a king of Mycenaean (pre- Dorian) Sparta. According to the ''Iliad'', Menelaus was a central figure in the Trojan War, leading the Spartan contingent of th ...
and
Helen
Helen may refer to:
People
* Helen of Troy, in Greek mythology, the most beautiful woman in the world
* Helen (actress) (born 1938), Indian actress
* Helen (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name)
Places
* Helen, ...
are found in its vicinity starting the Archaic period.
The excavators concluded that in the "later 15th century" (BCE) the ridge was "the principal settlement site in Laconia." The shrine and its dedications identify it as the site of Homeric Sparta, capital of a ruling couple believed by the population of the Archaic Period to have been Menelaos and Helen.
Classical Sparta
The classical-era city of
Sparta
Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referre ...
was built on the west bank of the Eurotas about halfway down the valley. The Spartans made little use of the left bank of the river: Only one permanent bridge has been found that crossed to it, at
Therapne
Therapne ( grc, Θεράπνη) was a town in ancient Laconia, within the territory of Sparta.
According to Greek mythology, its name comes from a daughter of Lelex. The place was distinguished for housing the Menelaion, a temple to Menelaus, w ...
just south of the city. The main traffic was southward to the port of
Gytheio
Gytheio ( el, Γύθειο, ) or Gythio, also the ancient Gythium or Gytheion ( grc, Γύθειον), is a town on the eastern shore of the Mani Peninsula, and a former municipality in Laconia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government ...
, which was the most convenient outlet. All others involved a trek over mountains.
Post-classical Laconia
Modern Laconia is a political subdivision of Greece covering the Eurotas Valley, the massifs on either side, the two headlands, and the enclosed
Laconian Gulf The Laconian Gulf ( el, Λακωνικός Κόλπος, translit=Lakonikos Kolpos), is a gulf in the south-eastern Peloponnese, in Greece. It is the southernmost gulf in Greece and the largest in the Peloponnese.
In the shape of an inverted "U", ...
with its coastal islands. Its seat is the city of
Sparta
Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referre ...
, as in ancient times, at a site which dominated and still dominates the valley from its central position. However, the rich-soil plain is entirely divided into villages that practice
agriculture
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...
,
viticulture
Viticulture (from the Latin word for ''vine'') or winegrowing (wine growing) is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, ran ...
, and
arboriculture
Arboriculture () is the cultivation, management, and study of individual trees, shrubs, vines, and other perennial woody plants. The science of arboriculture studies how these plants grow and respond to cultural practices and to their environmen ...
intensely.
The main roads from Sparta form a branching network leading out radially from the city to connect other cities and towns in the valley. A web of secondary roads fills in the spaces between the main roads.
Ecology
In modern times, much of the river water is used for irrigation, with the result that the Eurotas is almost dry during the summer months. The waters of the Eurotas are used to irrigate mainly citrus crops, for which Laconia is famous. The plain of
Elos
Elos ( el, Έλος, before 1930: Δουραλί - ''Dourali'') is a village and a former municipality in Laconia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Evrotas, of which it is a municipal unit. ...
near the river's mouth is particularly fertile farmland.
In the winter months, the Eurotas is prone to flooding. On 24 November 2005 heavy floods damaged buildings and stranded automobiles in the streets, and harmed orchards, including the valley's famous orange and olive groves. The floods affected many villages along the valley as well as the town of Gytheio; of land was ruined.
Currently the nitrate waste from fertilizers is polluting the river, aggravated by diminished flow because of the irrigation demands on it.
Geology
Geomorphology
The Eurotas River occupies the floor of a
rift valley
A rift valley is a linear shaped lowland between several highlands or mountain ranges created by the action of a geologic rift. Rifts are formed as a result of the pulling apart of the lithosphere due to extensional tectonics. The linear dep ...
, or ''
graben
In geology, a graben () is a depressed block of the crust of a planet or moon, bordered by parallel normal faults.
Etymology
''Graben'' is a loan word from German, meaning 'ditch' or 'trench'. The word was first used in the geologic contex ...
'', created by extensional forces acting over the
Hellenic Plate
The Aegean Sea Plate (also called the Hellenic Plate or Aegean Plate) is a small tectonic plate located in the eastern Mediterranean Sea under southern Greece and western Turkey. Its southern edge is the Hellenic subduction zone south of Crete, ...
in a northeast-southwest direction. The corresponding
fault-block mountain
Fault blocks are very large blocks of rock, sometimes hundreds of kilometres in extent, created by tectonic and localized stresses in Earth's crust. Large areas of bedrock are broken up into blocks by faults. Blocks are characterized by relat ...
s are the
Taygetus
The Taygetus, Taugetus, Taygetos or Taÿgetus ( el, Ταΰγετος, Taygetos) is a mountain range on the Peloponnese peninsula in Southern Greece. The highest mountain of the range is Mount Taygetus, also known as "Profitis Ilias", or "Prophet ...
Massif on the west and the
Parnon
Parnon or Parnonas ( el, Πάρνων/Πάρνωνας) or Malevos (Μαλεβός) is a mountain range, or massif, on the east of the Laconian plain and the Evrotas valley. It is visible from Athens above the top of the Argive mountains. The wes ...
Massif on the east – both
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
ridges derived from a former sea bed. On the east side of Taygetus is the Sparta Fault, a
normal fault
In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic ...
, which strikes in a zig-zag path along the foot of the massif and dips toward the interior of the valley. The river is on the western side. From it the scarps of the footwall of the Sparta Fault are visible at the base of Tayegetus.
Taygetus is transected by deep ravines through which tributaries flow into the Eurotas. At the foot of the massif is a zone of
scree
Scree is a collection of broken rock fragments at the base of a cliff or other steep rocky mass that has accumulated through periodic rockfall. Landforms associated with these materials are often called talus deposits. Talus deposits typically ha ...
. To the east of that
alluvial fan
An alluvial fan is an accumulation of sediments that fans outwards from a concentrated source of sediments, such as a narrow canyon emerging from an escarpment. They are characteristic of mountainous terrain in arid to semiarid climates, but a ...
s from Taygetus cover half the valley, making it asymmetrical. On that account it is often called the Evrotas Furrow. The Eurotas flows over a flood plain and also through a shallow
aquifer
An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing, permeable rock, rock fractures, or unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or silt). Groundwater from aquifers can be extracted using a water well. Aquifers vary greatly in their characterist ...
of sand and gravel 10–60 m deep, graded with the deep end downstream. The gradient of the aquifer is a steep 1–3%. The highest
hydraulic conductivity
Hydraulic conductivity, symbolically represented as (unit: m/s), is a property of porous materials, soils and rocks, that describes the ease with which a fluid (usually water) can move through the pore space, or fractures network. It depends on th ...
and transmissivity are near the junction of the Xerias and the Eurotas south of Sparti. To the east are older and finer sediments of alternating
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4).
Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...
and
marl
Marl is an earthy material rich in carbonate minerals, clays, and silt. When hardened into rock, this becomes marlstone. It is formed in marine or freshwater environments, often through the activities of algae.
Marl makes up the lower part o ...
beds, some of which are impermeable. Under the entire valley is a deep aquifer in the limestone floor, containing water permeating downward through the horsts. The Eurotas collects runoff and drains the deep aquifer on the east bank but loses water to the shallow aquifer on the west bank.
Recent geologic history
Analysis of bore holes in the valley indicate that in the
Pliocene
The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58
Geologic analysis done in the 20th century hypothesized that the Eurotas Valley in the Late Pliocene was an inland sea over the lower and middle valley several hundred m deep at the current mouth of the river. The fault-block geology had developed earlier. During the Pleistocene the sea level dropped exposing a flat floor. Continued slippage along the Sparta Fault dropped the middle Eurotas valley further forcing the river to cut its way through the 100–250 m hills dividing the lower from the middle valley, creating Eurotas Ravine.