page_title: Lesbos
section_title: Lesvos Geopark
hierarchical_section_title: Lesbos / Geography / Lesvos Geopark
caption_attribution_description: English: Trunks 23-24 at Lesbos petrified forest. Trunk 23 is the standing one and trunk 24 the lying one. In this photo the different horizons of materials are seen. The lower one is the ground before the explosion where the roots are of the stading trunk are. This lower horizon was covered by volcanic material, forming an intermediate level. Mud flows covered this horizon and also carried the lying trunk. At the background are the trunks 20-21-22.
context_page_description: Lesbos is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has an area of 1,633 km² with 321 kilometres of coastline, making it the third largest island in Greece. It is separated from Turkey by the narrow Mytilini Strait and in late Palaeolithic/Mesolithic times was joined to the Anatolian mainland before the end of the Last Glacial Period. Its capital is Mytilene, and the island as a whole was formerly often called Mytilene.
  Lesbos is also the name of a regional unit of the North Aegean region, within which Lesbos island is one of five governing islands. The others are Chios, Ikaria, Lemnos, and Samos. The North Aegean region governs nine inhabited islands: Lesbos, Chios, Psara, Oinousses, Ikaria, Fournoi Korseon, Lemnos, Agios Efstratios and Samos. The capital of the North Aegean Region is Mytilene. The population of Lesbos, which sometimes is called the Island of the Poets, is approximately 86,000, a third of whom live in its capital, Mytilene, in the southeastern part of the island. The remaining population is distributed in small towns and villages. The largest are Plomari, Kalloni, the Gera Villages, Agiassos, Eresos, and Molyvos.
context_section_description: The entire territory of Lesbos is "Lesvos Geopark", which is a member of the European Geoparks Network (since 2000) and Global Geoparks Network (since 2004) on account of its outstanding geological heritage, educational programs and projects, and promotion of geotourism.
  This geopark was enlarged from former "Lesvos Petrified Forest Geopark". Lesbos contains one of the few known petrified forests, called Petrified forest of Lesbos, and it has been declared a Protected Natural Monument. Fossilised plants have been found in many localities on the western part of the island. The fossilised forest was formed during the Late Oligocene to Lower–Middle Miocene, as determined by the intense volcanic activity in the area. Neogene volcanic rocks dominate the central and western part of the island, comprising andesites, dacites and rhyolites, ignimbrite, pyroclastics, tuffs, and volcanic ash. The products of the volcanic activity covered the vegetation of the area and the fossilization process took place during favourable conditions. The fossilized plants are silicified remnants of a sub-tropical forest that existed on the northwest part of the island 20–15 million years ago.
caption: Petrified forest of Lesbos
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