The gorge of the Angitis river at Stena Petras near the Alistrati cave. A magnificent piece of natural architecture in Eastern Macedonia, Greece

Abstract

The Angitis river principally drains the Drama basin and also the former marshes of Philippi. It then flows in the spectacular gorge called Stena Petras, just near the almost horizontal Alistrati caves and enters into the adjacent plain (basin) of Serres, where it joins the Strymon (Struma) river, discharging southwards to the Strymon gulf. The Angitis gorge and Alistrati caves are underlain by the Rhodope marbles. The outcrops of Alistrati marbles rise up to 273 m and are strongly jointed and fissured, mainly by NW-SE and NE-SW systems, with the NE-SW system being more dominant. Some faults oriented to NW-SE and NE-SW also occur in the marbles (Dimadis and Zachos, 1986). © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.