The Maltese islands are a small archipelago, situated in the centre of the Mediterranean some 96 km south of Sicily and 290 km north of the coast of Libya. The Maltese archipelago comprises three inhabited islands; Malta (245. 7 km2), Gozo (67.1 km2) and Comino (2.8 km2), together with a number of uninhabited smaller islands; Cominotto (9.9 ha), Filfla (2.0 ha), Fungus Rock (0.7 ha) and St Paul's islands (10.1 ha). The islands are composed almost entirely of marine sedimentary rocks of Tertiary age, mainly Oligo-Miocene limestones, calcareous sandstones and clays.peer-reviewe
