(A little beach at Nissiopi)
The
tectonic plates under the island will never give up dancing. In small
steps they shift and brush past each other, a tango in slow motion
(2.0), and nobody
knows if they will fall back to sleep or will continue with an
up-tempo: we still depend on the moods of the gods, or Mother Earth.
Some
days ago I was on an excursion to the little island of Nissopi, the
newest part of the Petrified Forest Park of the Natural
History Museum of Lesvos
at Sigri. There my fantasy really got triggered: I tried to imagine
what would happen if the earth were to take revenge over our abuse of
her wealth, for example by opening wide her volcanoes. We are used to
natural disasters: a storm here, floods there or an earthquake
elsewhere. But the forces that were released millions of years ago on
the island are unimaginable. Huge rocks and lava spitting mountains,
that vomitted all their innards with inhumane force, causing oceans
of fire, tsunami's and earthquakes. It must have been hell on earth.
Everywhere
on Lesvos you will see witness to these events: lonely enormous rocks
hurled just about anywhere, volcanic stones pressed or moulded into
artistic forms and other impressive rock formations. The island must
have been pretty shaken. The best finds however are due to sheer
happenstance during the madness: after the firestorms, cloud-bursts
with lots of water flooded the ravaged region, causing a large part
of the trees to become petrified rather than carbonized. Lesvos hides
plenty of them, just like the little island of Nissiopi.
At
my feet a little beach full of petrified tree trunks and shards,
lying as innocent rocks in the sea, their smooth surfaces glittering
in the sun. Brown, red, but also yellow, orange, green, blue, these
fossils look like treasures washed ashore from the Cave of Ali Baba.
The inner wood often conjured into half precious stones. My fingers
itched to pick up some of the smaller pieces, shining between the
sand. But the guide was serious: “Do not touch anything!” So I
behaved myself, knowing that I already have some small stones,
collected from other beaches where the waves casually deposited them
in the sand. I looked around this amazing little beach, protected by
walls of lava layers, some exposed petrified trees still stuck in
there, many tree trunks still standing, their roots safely nestled
deep in the earth. It was like standing in a million year old wood.
“The
sea was not here in those days,” the guide said and I gazed out
over the water, stretching itself as blue as heaven towards the
indefinite sky and wondered where
would the sea have been in those times. I knew that millions of years
ago Lesvos was part of the Asia plate - just ordinary main land.
I
looked at the various layers of volcanic deposit, stapled under hills
which were laid naked and I shivered: imagine if you were out for a
day in this forest of mammoth trees (sequoia's), their tops reaching
almost a hundred meters into the sky. Just as you spread a cloth
under one of those impressive trees and opened your picnic basket,
there was a thundering noise. It all could happen very quickly
(proved by the excavations in Pompeii, where people were buried
alive). The trees may have been chatting to each other and then
suddenly it would became dark. Thick, grey clouds of ash would
descend from the tree tops and branches, like a black snowstorm,
cutting the oxygen supply. That is how these trees and everything
what lived below died: by suffocation. Some trees were taken by
streams of mud and other volcano junk and came stuck on the ‘not
yet’ an island. Maybe this island just consists of those drifting
trees, caught between the broken trees of the forest embedded in
layers of ash and spitted rocks.
However,
the absence of the sea at that small island kept me wondering. Once
there must have been a fascinating forest full of trees, that only
after they were
immortalized in ash, met the
sea, that patiently but persisting, started to nibble at the ash,
thus freeing the trees.
Now
with global warming and the rising of sea levels, you could think
that this is no new phenomenal at all. Sea water for millions of
years has slowly crept up the land, filling valleys with water, thus
creating islands. But most Greek islands were created by heavy
earthquakes, tearing and shifting the earth crust, even absorbing
whole villages, like ancient Pyrrha
in the Gulf of Kalloni.
Imagine
if it were to happen to you: living in a vast country, then the earth
trembles and hoppa, you find your house standing alone on an island,
surrounded by water, mountain slopes disappeared into the sea, only
their tops towering above the waves. It is said that the Greek
islands are part of the foothills of the Alps. I am still not sure
when the Gods decided to create the Greek island empire, only that is
was long after these mammoth trees disappeared under the ash.
You
cannot compare petrified trees with those cute 'prehistoric' animals
that mooch about the Galapagos islands. I dare to say though that,
for scientists, Lesvos and Nissiopi are just as important a Valhalla
as the Galápagos Islands. Maybe there are fewer animals for visitors
to cuddle, but those beautiful, very old trees invite you to
fantasize like crazy about the fascinating, lethal monkey business of
Mother Earth.
(with
thanks to Mary Staples)
©
Smitaki 2017
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