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Si tratta della guida all'escursione geologica multidisciplinare tenutasi a Malta dall'11 al 18 novembre 2010, nell'ambito del progetto di internazionalizzazione dell'Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia dal titolo "Multidisciplinary research in the open-air laboratory of the island of Malta: an internazional network for landslide hazard assessment in coastal areas" (2008-2010) finanziato dalla Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Modena e Reggio Emilia, per i Corsi di Laurea Triennale in Scienze Geologiche e Magistrale in Scienze e Tecnologie Geologiche.

Filfla is an islet located in the southernmost point of the Maltese archipelago, at about 5 km southwest of the main island of Malta. The geomorphological features of Filfla, together with the small rocky islet, Filfoletta, located one hundred metres southwest from Filfla, were strongly affected by human impact, as they were used as shooting ranges by military powers until the 1970s. This chapter presents the results of the field survey of the coastal screes surrounding the islet and visual comparisons with local Maltese screes. From these field studies, it was concluded that the consequences of the impact of the bombs still persists. In fact, the cliff surfaces at Filfla are completely bare from vegetation cover and fresh scars were observed. Local fishermen reported that many landslides had occurred during recent years, and they seem to be more frequent than along other Maltese and Gozitan coasts. Moreover, Filfoletta has mostly disappeared after the intense bombing.

Tens of sea caves and other coastal karst landforms are to be found along the limestone coast of the Maltese Islands. Most of the sea caves develop around the present-day sea level, such as Blue Grotto, which is one of the widest and most spectacular sea cave on the islands. The Blue Grotto karst system is composed by partially submerged chambers, sea arches, gorges and small-scale landforms, such as coastal notches, and speleothems. Such landforms developed at the northwestern side of Wied Babu, in a half a kilometer wide bay near Żurrieq. This chapter presents the results of a detailed geomorphological survey of these coastal and karst landforms and discusses the origin and development of the studied landforms. The close relation with the sea level suggests that the system is partly related to former enlargement of dissolutionally widened karst voids and partly related to present-day marine processes, such as waves, and subaerial processes, including rock collapse. Although most of the species recorded from the environs of Filfla are common elsewhere around the Maltese Islands, in general, the recorded biotopes exhibit high species richness values, which is indicative of a low degree of anthropogenic pressure being exerted on the site.