Chapter 28 Palaeogeographic Evolution of the Cyclades Islands (Greece) During the Holocene K. Gaki-Papanastassiou, N. Evelpidou, H. Maroukian, and A. Vassilopoulos Abstract The Cycladic islands are located in the central Aegean Sea (Greece) forming a partly submerged plateau separated into two parts: the eastern shallower one (Andros, Tinos, Mykonos, Naxos, Paros, Syros, Ios, Sikinos, Folegandros) which formed one big island (6.978 km 2 ) at the end of the last glacial period; the western islands (Kea, Kythnos, Serifos, Sifnos, Milos) which remained separated during the same period. The eastern islands constitute an erosional plateau which is the end product of a Neogene palaeosurface that was partially submerged due to thinning of the crust during the Quaternary. The presence of numerous Neolithic sites both on land and submerged indicates the existence of an advanced civilization in the area for thousands of years. The location of the lost Atlantis could be found in this area probably between Naxos, Paros and Antiparos. 28.1 Introduction The Cycladic islands are located in the central Aegean Sea (Greece), forming the so called Cycladic plateau (Fig. 28.1), having a relatively low seismicity area. There are about 20 large islands, the largest one being Naxos (430 km 2 ) followed by Andros (380 km 2 ) and Tinos (196,5 km 2 ), all of them located in the eastern part of the plateau. There are four islands aligned along the western end (Kea, Kythnos, Serifos, Sifnos) which are much smaller. Between these two groups of islands are Syros, Paros, Ios, and Mykonos. Around the southern edge of the plateau are located the three islands of Milos, Santorini and Amorgos which are peripheral extensions of the plateau. K. Gaki-Papanastassiou (B ) Department of Geography and Climatology, Faculty of Geology and Geoenvironment, University of Athens, Panepistimiopolis, Zografou 157 84, Athens, Greece e-mail: gaki@geol.uoa.gr 297 D.R. Green (ed.), Coastal and Marine Geospatial Technologies, Coastal Systems and Continental Margins 13, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4020-9720-1_28, C  Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010