Watershed dam Amorgos

The watershed ridge on Amorgos demonstrates how asymmetrical the island is structured. The watershed ridge indicates the line where water flows to the northern part on one hand and to the southern part on the other. In normal geological development, you would expect that line to be approximately centered. But that is clearly not the case here. The line is located about 4/5 towards the south.

This is related to the geological forces that pushed up the southern part more strongly and caused the island to tilt.

The consequence of this is that the area south of the watershed ridge has steep slopes where most of the soil material goes directly into the sea. Towards the north, it is more captured in basins. Therefore, you also find much more agriculture and habitation in the northern part.

Pascal Brackman