It consists of the Zakros Mountains on the east and, south to north in a row, the Thrypti, Ornon, and Western Siteia Foothills on the west, the two rows being separated by the Rema Pentelis ("Pentelis river"), a stream with its valley that flows S-N across most of Crete at that point, entering the Bay of Sitia just east of Sitia.

[1] The access road of each beach connects to the inland valley, called the Zakros basin.

In fact an 11.3 km (7.0 mi) scarp along the west of the valley centered about Zakro must be a normal fault feature.

The Natural History Museum supposes that the rows of elevation are still under compression perpendicular to them, causing the normal faults.

[ii] Media related to Coastal Hill Range, East Crete at Wikimedia Commons