Sights

Vikos gorge

Vikos Gorge is a gorge in the Pindus Mountains of northern Greece. It lays on the southern slopes of Mount Tymfi, with a length of about 20 km, an altitude that ranges from 450 m to 1.600 m and a width from 400 m to some meters at its narrowest part.

Vikos is listed as the deepest gorge in the world by the Guinness Book of Records among others.

The gorge is the found in the core zone of Vikos-Aoös National Park, in Zagori region. It begins between the villages Monodendri and Koukouli and ends near the village of Vikos (or Vitsiko). The gorge collects the waters of a number of small rivers and leads them into the Voidomatis River which rises in the gorge. Voidomatis has a seasonal flow to its major part, being permanent only at the lowest part of the gorge. Vikos is also a site of major scientific interest, because it is in almost virgin condition, is a haven for endangered species and contains many and varied ecosystems.

The area belongs to the Inner Ionian zone and is dominated by hard limestone of various geological age. The subalpine zone and the upper slopes of the gorge at a depth of about 400 m consist of the relatively young Eocene limestone . Limestone of the same geological era constitutes the slopes around Vicos village as well. Downwards to the gorge the previous layers are succeeded by a 200 m stratum of limestone of the Senon era, while the middle and lower slopes at a depth of about 700 m are consisted of Jurassic and Cretaceous limestone. Finally, at the deepest layers and up to an altitude of 500 (700) m, grey Jurassic dolomite dominates.

A special feature of the limestone, resulting from its chemical weathering to water, is its carstic nature. Limestone dissolves easily as the water percolates through its pores, so that an extended underground drainage system is developed with caves and channels that enlarge with the time when their roofs collapse producing rocky exposures and perpendicular slopes in the form of Vikos gorge. For the same reason the water is scarce in such a landscape, and only when an impenetrable stratum is met, the water appears on the earth surface.

The flysch, a sedimentary formation of alternating sequences of sandstones, shales, marls and clays is of limited extend in the study area. It is found near the village of Vikos, in an area where terraces were established there in the past to provide the necessary land for agriculture. Flysch covers an extensive area western of the National Park. Finally, a narrow interrupted strip of alluvial land is located along Voidomatis River. The land was also cultivated in the past due to the water availability. Nowadays it is abandoned because of the remoteness from the village.