Geology of Malta The largest of the second set are the Victoria Lines Fault on northern Malta and the Qala Fault on southern Gozo. Overall, the islands of the archipelago are tilted towards the northeast, with cliffs on the southwest coast and descending gradients towards the northeast. The Maltese archipalego is linked to Sicily by an underwater plateau of depths of less than 100 m. During different marine regressions of the Mediterranean, Malta has been connected to Sicily by a surface isthmus by which animals have been able to cross, as evinced by the presence of island dwarfism (Maltese dwarf hippopotamus and dwarf
Nuyts Archipelago Nuyts was in the region of the archipelago in January 1627. Both Flinders and Nicolas Baudin, who also explored the area in 1802, named several of the islands. During the early 19th Century the archipelago and adjacent coast were used as a base for sealing and for whaling, usually by Hobart-based entrepreneurs who established whaling stations on St Peter Island as well as at Fowlers Bay and Streaky Bay. St Francis Island was named in 1627 by Thijssen after his patron saint, at it is the second largest island in the archipelago. It is covered by a mix of grassland,