Argon Pedion  Argon Pedion () is the geological name of a "closed karst basin" in the Arcadian highlands in the Peloponnese peninsula of southern Greece. The first known appearance of this name was in a publication by the ancient geographer Pausanias (110-180 AD). He called it untilled plain, because the grassland and acres may be flooded beyond the time when annual vegetation starts. When the winter rains were very heavy, floods can even turn the plain into a temporary lake. Intensive karst formation (drainage in underground waterways of limestone layers) prevents the formation of a permanent lake. In rare cases, even today, modern technologies can not prevent flooding. The prefecture Arcadia (Νομός Αρκαδίας) is almost entirely rural and mountainous (Arcadian Plateau). The villages are scattered all over the land; there are only very few cities, even the largest city Tripoli, Greece, with ca. 30000 inhabitants (without district and hinterland) is relatively small. Steep mountains and forests are scarcely populated. Extensive forests dominate in the central north (Mainalo) and the central-south, following the prefectures southern border which marks the mountain chain of the Parnon, way down to the coast of the Argolic Gulf. Valleys divide the mountain chains, but they are important draining paths only from November to April, while many brooks even dry up totally. The size of the valleys indicate, there were larger water quantities in earlier time periods. On steeply inclined slopes the topsoil is often drastically eroded, only degenerated shrubland prevails. Alluvial sediment deposits are scarce. Accumulated soil structures are found only in plains, basins or flat coastal sections. The climate of the Peloponnese is similar in all parts, the temperature varies only in relation to the height. The influence of the Mediterranean Sea is omnipresent, as no point of the land is at a larger distance than 50 miles. The climate is best classified as mediterranean with dry hot summers and mild wet winters. As the dry season may last for months, the thin rests of soil on mountain slopes are merely covered by Maquis shrubland, often of a degraded character. Even then, forests, when healthy and dense, are only mildly more humid and cooler. Very dominant is the intensive karstification, which is present throughout.