Cyprus began forming about 90 million years ago, when molten rock rose from the seafloor and cooled into new oceanic crust. Tectonic forces later pushed parts of this rock above sea level, creating the ophiolite terrain visible today in the Troodos Mountains. Its mottled green appearance has been likened to snakeskin.
Younger marine sediments accumulated around the island during the Miocene. Later uplift created a smaller landmass to the south. Rivers carried sediment into the channel between the two, gradually forming deltas and two land bridges known as tombolos. Together, these features now make up the Akrotiri Peninsula at Cyprus’s southern tip.
Landsat 8 captured the peninsula’s sandy edges on October 10, 2026. Between its two tombolos lies Akrotiri Salt Lake, a coastal lagoon that was once connected to the Mediterranean Sea. The western tombolo, formed from river-deposited gravel and sand, dates back about 50,000 years. The eastern one cut off the sea within the past 2,000 years, according to geologists.
The lake’s water levels rise in late autumn and winter and typically fall during summer. Its winter waters have attracted large numbers of flamingos, averaging about 4,000 birds. But the population has dropped in recent years, reaching 30 in 2025, according to news reports. The birds feed on fairy shrimp, whose carotenoids contribute to their pink coloring.
Cyprus also has a long association with snakes and cats. In antiquity, the island was called Ophiousa, or “land of snakes,” likely because of its blunt-nosed vipers. A legend says that, during a fourth-century drought, Empress Helena arranged for cats to be brought from Egypt to control the snakes.
The cats were released in a snake-infested area of the Akrotiri Peninsula that became known as Cape Gata, or Cape Cat. The Holy Monastery of St. Nicholas of the Cats still stands there. Today, a small group of nuns cares for hundreds of cats at the monastery, while Cyprus as a whole is reported to have more than one million cats—about as many as people.
NASA Earth Observatory images by Michala Garrison used Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. The story was written by Adam Voiland.
Sources: NASA Breaking News.