Fomm ir-Riħ (meaning ''mouth of the wind'' in
Maltese
Maltese may refer to:
* Someone or something of, from, or related to Malta
* Maltese alphabet
* Maltese cuisine
* Maltese culture
* Maltese language, the Semitic language spoken by Maltese people
* Maltese people, people from Malta or of Maltese ...
) is a small bay in the limits of
Mġarr
Mġarr (), formerly known as ''Mgiarro'', is a village in the Northern Region of Malta. Mġarr is a rural village, isolated from nearby towns and cities. Mġarr lies west of Mosta and is surrounded by farmland and vineyards. Many of the 4,840 ...
on the western side of the island of
Malta
Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...
. The area is characterised by a
fault line
In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic ...
which creates an interesting landscape with vertical
cliffs
In geography and geology, a cliff or rock face is an area of rock which has a general angle defined by the vertical, or nearly vertical. Cliffs are formed by the processes of weathering and erosion, with the effect of gravity. Cliffs are com ...
and a
pebble
A pebble is a clastic rocks, clast of rock (geology), rock with a grain size, particle size of based on the Particle size (grain size), Udden-Wentworth scale of sedimentology. Pebbles are generally considered larger than Granule (geology), gra ...
beach. There is also an unusual
syncline
In structural geology, a syncline is a fold with younger layers closer to the center of the structure, whereas an anticline is the inverse of a syncline. A synclinorium (plural synclinoriums or synclinoria) is a large syncline with superimposed ...
behind the beach.
The bay and headlands form one of the most stunning scenic views and varied geology on the Maltese islands.
Public access to the quiet pebble beach is disputed with only one road which is currently illegally blocked and has led to protests by the Ramblers Association of Malta to highlight problems of accessibility. Access to the beach is now a narrow path cut into the side of the steep cliff and a climb down to the beach.
The area is also famous for its
Maltese freshwater crab that makes its home high above the bay and the sea.
In the mid-17th century,
Blat Mogħża Tower was built near Fomm ir-Riħ, but it collapsed in the 18th century and it was never rebuilt. In the 19th century, a
redoubt
A redoubt (historically redout) is a Fortification, fort or fort system usually consisting of an enclosed defensive emplacement outside a larger fort, usually relying on Earthworks (engineering), earthworks, although some are constructed of ston ...
was built in the area as part of the
Victoria Lines.
Cart ruts
On Ras il-Pellegrin, the headland north of Fomm ir-Riħ Bay, there are puzzling
cart ruts that lead off the cliff top.
[Hughes, K. "Persistent Features from a Palaeo-Landscape: The Ancient Tracks of the Maltese Islands" ''The Geographical Journal'', 1999]
Notes
External links
* WWF - Natura 2000 in the New EU Member State
Malta (Fomm Ir-Rih and Syncline on page 103)''* Malta Vist
Bays of Malta
Mġarr
{{Malta-geo-stub