Dilek Peninsula-Büyük Menderes Delta National Park Aegean Region in general. The peninsula was shaped into its current form over several geological eras with the tectonic merging of Paleozoic schist formations, Mesozoic limestone and marble deposits, and finally the accretion of large clays and other sediments during the Neogene period. This is partly because of Turkey's unstable fault block terrain, and because of the close proximity of the Anatolian-Aegean plate boundary, which generates massifs of mountains all across western Turkey. This includes the peninsula and the mountains surrounding the Büyük Menderes River, known collectively as the Menderes Massif. The peninsula is highly mountainous, with most of its
Banks Peninsula resort and retained many French influences as well as many of its nineteenth-century buildings. Historic harbour defence works dating from 1874 onwards survive at Ripapa Island in Lyttelton Harbour, and at Godley Head. In 2011, the Christchurch earthquakes of Feb and June had their epicentres in the Port Hills, significantly affecting communities. Banks Peninsula forms the most prominent volcanic feature of the South Island, similar to — but more than twice as large as — the older Dunedin volcano (Otago Peninsula and Harbour) to the southwest. Geologically, the peninsula comprises the eroded remnants of two large composite shield volcanoes (Lyttelton