View source for Chios

===Geology===
[[File:Αγ.Απόστολοι και Πελλιναίο!-Βίκι.jpg|thumb|Mount Pelinaio]]
[[File:Saint Markellarocks.jpg|thumb|''Rock of [[Saint Markella]]'', patron saint of Chios]]

The Chios Basin is a hydrographic sub-unit of the Aegean Sea adjacent to the island of Chios.<ref>C.Michael Hogan. 2011. [http://www.eoearth.org/article/Aegean_Sea?topic=49523 ''Aegean Sea''. Eds. P.Saundry & C.J.Cleveland. Encyclopedia of Earth. National Council for Science and the Environment. Washington DC]</ref> A kind of white dirt found near [[Pyrgi, Greece|Pyrgi]] on the southern part of the island<ref name=certh>{{citation |last=Hasluck |first=F.W. |contribution-url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/30096442 |contribution=Terra Lemnia |title=The Annual |publisher=The British School |location=Athens |volume=16 |date=1910 |pages=220–231 |jstor=30096442 }}.</ref> was famed as an [[astringent]] and [[cosmetics|cosmetic]] since [[classical antiquity|antiquity]] as '''Chian earth''' ({{langx|la|Chia terra}};<ref>{{citation |last= |first= |editor-last= |editor-first= |contribution=Chian, ''adj.'' (and ''n.'') |contribution-url=https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/31496 |url=https://www.oed.com |title=Oxford English Dictionary |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2021 }}. </ref> {{langx|el|πηλομαιοτικο}}, ''pēlomaiotiko'').<ref name=certh/> Extracted around [[May (month)|May]] each year,<ref name=certh/> it was considered less valuable than the similar medicinal earth produced by [[Lemnos]] given that the Limnian earth was considered protective against [[venom]]s and [[poison]]s<ref name=certh/> but nonetheless reputed to be "the greatest of all cosmetics... giv[ing] a [[skin whitening|whiteness]] and smoothness to the [[skin]] and prevent[ing] [[wrinkles]] beyond any of the other substances... for the same purposes."<ref>{{citation |last= |first= |editor-last=Smellie |editor-first=William |editor-link=William Smellie |display-editors=0 |contribution=[[:s:Encyclopædia Britannica, First Edition/Chian Earth|Chian Earth]] |title=[[:s:EB1|Encyclopaedia Britannica]] |edition=1st |volume=II |date=1771 |location=Edinburgh |publisher=[[Colin Macfarquhar]] }}.</ref>