Geology of Malta Geology of Malta The Geology of Malta consists of a sequence of sedimentary rocks of late Oligocene to late Miocene age cut through by a set of extensional faults of Pliocene age. The Maltese archipelago is situated on the mainly shallow water continental platform between Sicily and North Africa that lies beneath the Sicily Channel, separating the Ionian Basin from the western Mediterranean Basin. The islands lie around 200 km to the south of the subduction boundary between the African Plate and the Eurasian Plate. The platform is crossed by a rift zone formed of three grabens: the Pantelleria graben,
Malta (island) English. The hybrid character of Maltese was established by a long period of Maltese-Sicilian urban bilingualism gradually transforming rural speech and which ended in the early 19th century with Maltese emerging as the vernacular of the entire native population. The language includes different dialects that can vary greatly from one town to another or from one island to another. The Eurobarometer states that 100% of the population speak Maltese. Also, 88% of the population speak English, 66% speak Italian, and 17% speak French. This widespread knowledge of second languages makes Malta one of the most multilingual countries in the European