Malta is a platform, an elevation of the sea floor that has showed its want to immerse more than once. Thirty-five pre-historic temples distributed on the two major islands, Malta and Gozo and many others actually submerged by the sea, make one think of a catastrophe that must have happened here around 3000-2500 B.C., something that left its sign. Steep reefs falling vertically to the sea, contrarily to the more sloping northern shore, form the southern coast of Malta, the Dingli Cliffs. It's as if the island's major axis rotated around itself, submerging most of the coast that faces Sicily.
I seem to recall running into some interesting info about the geology of Malta. If I can find it I will post it. Meanwhile I have a question about the decendents of oxen. If I remember my biology, Oxen are castrated adult male cattle, and thus would have no decendents.