Island, Cyprus #

Photo courtesy of NASA., under PD

The island of Cyprus Cyprus is located south of Turkey and northwest of Lebanon in the Mediterranean Sea. The island is 225 km (140 mi) from east to west, and has an area of about 9,250 sq km (3,570 sq mi). This satellite image shows the three distinct geologic regions of the island.

In the central and western part of the island is the Troödos Massif, a mountain range whose surface layer is mostly basaltic lava rock, and whose maximum elevation is 1953 m. Running in a thin arc along the northeast margin of the island is Cyprus second mountain range, a limestone formation called the Kyrenia Range.

A flat area of low relief occupies the space between these ranges, and is home to Nicosia, the capital city of the Republic of Cyprus. The city is visible as a grayish-brown patch near the center of the image. Nicosia lies along a UN-patrolled cease fire line that begins in roughly the center of the W-shaped northwestern coastline and meanders eastward across the island.

The line - established in 1974 - divides the Turkish-occupied North from the Republic of Cyprus to the south.