The entity highlights as “secret destinations” inland beaches, waterfalls, river gorges, lagoons, wetlands, volcanoes, karstic landscapes and caves
The Illustrious Official College of Geologists (ICOG), as every year around these dates, has proposed 21 “secret destinations” in Spainrecommended by their territorial delegations, to discover this summer the “natural wonders” of the national geography and promote geotourism. He proposes places like inland beaches, waterfalls, river gorges, lagoons, wetlands, volcanoes, karst landscapes or caves, in order to make a “geological and different” trip. These are:
Estremadura
1. Cancho del Fresno beach. Canamero (Caceres)
It is located in the Villuercas-Ibores-Jara Geopark. This Geopark, declared a World Geopark by UNESCO in 2011, is located in the southeast of the province of Cáceres, showing the history of the Earth and creating an unforgettable experience of geological tourism.
2. Costa Dulce Beach. Orellana the Old (Badajoz)
It is located on the banks of the Orellana reservoir, inaugurated in 1961 to retain the waters of the Guadiana River, produce hydroelectric power and supply the irrigation systems of Las Vegas Altas of said hydrographic basin.
Galicia
3. Xallas waterfall in Ézaro (La Coruña)
It was formed at the beginning of the Cenozoic, 64 million years ago by the collision between the Eurasian Plate and the Iberian Plate. But there was another event that gave the Xallas waterfall its current appearance: a violent seismic movement that took place in 1217.
4. Gerês Xurés Cross-border Biosphere Reserve (Orense)
It is an area with abundant natural heritage. Geologically granitic rocks dominate. As it is an area with shallow soils, the watercourses are seasonal and generate the spectacular “corgas”, steep ravines.
Aragon
5. Molinos Crystal Caves (Teruel)
They are a geological wonder. These caves were formed over millions of years by a geological process known as speleothem, where mineral-rich groundwater slowly dissolves the surrounding limestone.
6. Anayet volcanic pit (Huesca)
It is an impressive geological structure located in the Pyrenees. It was formed millions of years ago due to volcanic activity that led to the accumulation of lava and pyroclastic materials in the region.
7. Galacho from Juslibol (Zaragoza)
It is a nature reserve formed by abandoned meanders of the Ebro River. It stands out for its diversity of native fauna and flora, especially migratory birds such as herons and ducks. It offers routes and trails and is an ideal place for bird watching and recreation near the city.
Navarre
8. Arbayun Gorge
A canyon excavated by the Salazar River in the limestone of the Sierra de Leyre, with vertical walls over 300 meters high and almost 6 km long. The views from the Mirador de Iso are unbeatable: you can see the gorge carved by the river as well as the flight of large birds of prey.
9. Mallos de Codes
Although limestone rocky outcrops of marine origin from the Upper Cretaceous can be observed, clays, sandstones and more modern conglomerates, Oligocene-Miocene, predominate. Calcareous conglomerates that border the Sierra de Cantabria, in which these impressive mallos have been carved, in the form of towers. 15 km away is the Genevilla-La Celagua spring, with an important outcrop of limestone travertines associated with the spring.
Castile and Leon
10. Arribes del Duero (Zamora and Salamanca)
The Duero River forms the largest and deepest canyons on the Iberian Peninsula, creating a privileged space due to the beauty of its granite landscape, its spectacular waterfalls and its varied biofauna; For this reason, it is declared a Protected Natural Area with the category of Natural Park.
11. Museum of La Falla de Juzbado (Salamanca)
It is an interpretation center on geology and landscape. It presents the local geology and, specifically, a place of geological interest such as the Juzbado-Penalva do Castelo ductile shear, a fault discovered at the end of the 1960s and which can be seen up close by visiting the contents distributed among the two floors of the Museum and thanks to an outcrop located nearby.
12. Lake Sanabria (Zamora)
It constitutes the largest natural lake system existing in Spain. About 100,000 years ago, an impressive glacier with ice tongues of more than 20 kilometers served as the origin of the current lake. Today, its 369 hectares of fluvial surface and a depth that reaches 53 meters make it the largest natural lake in the Iberian Peninsula and one of the largest in all of Europe, being the largest of glacial origin.
Castilla la Mancha
13. Torcas de Palancares (Cuenca)
The accessible area corresponds to the first floor of the Almadén mine, about 50 meters deep, the one with the greatest historical value. You can see the Galería de Forzados, the Well and the Baritel de San Andrés, the Pozo de San Aquilino, the Plan de San Julián, the Hermitage of the Virgen de la Mina…
14. Almadén Mining Park (Ciudad Real)
They are cinnabar mineralizations that constitute disseminations in determined horizons of the “Criadero Quartzite” formation: not all the quartzite is mineralized, but there are a series of six layers or sections of quartzite that are mineralized.
Basque Country
15. Polje de Olatz (Guipuzcoa)
The waters of Olatz flow into the underground system by benefiting the sinkholes and the impressive Kobalde sinkhole, which is large and notable for the presence of clayey and sandy sediments and slackwater conglomerates. The waters emerge in various springs located about 3 kilometers away.
16. Spatic calcite from the Valnera fault (Vizcaya)
The limestones of the Jorrios Massif form part of the eastern end of the great Ramales carbonate platform, whose margin was located between Soba (Cantabria), Karrantza-Turtzioz (Bizkaia) and Castro-Urdiales/Santoña (Cantabria). Albian sedimentation in the area was controlled by deep strike-jump faults and structures resulting from their play.
17. Salburua wetlands (Álava)
It is a peri-urban area on the eastern edge of Vitoria, which covers more than 200 hectares and is made up of two wetlands (Betoño and Zurbano ponds), humid forests, meadows, poplars and other associated environments. In the past, part of the area was drained and dried for agricultural purposes since the 19th century. However, starting in 1994, the Vitoria City Council began projects to restore the environment, allowing two lagoons to flood again.
Asturias
18. Karst depression and Gulpiyuri beach
What makes this beach extraordinary is that it is located on the mainland, about 100 meters from the Cantabrian Sea coastline. It is an inland beach, with white sand and crystalline waters, surrounded by cliffs and rocks, which is formed thanks to the filtration of seawater through caves and underground cracks, and which is renewed with each tide.
19. Puddings and associated structures on Playa del Silencio
Also known as Gavieiro, it is special for the puddings and associated structures present in its cliffs. Puddings are geological formations of sedimentary rock that have eroded differentially, creating interesting natural pillars and columns in the cliff.
The Rioja
20. Sinkhole in Serradero
This system of rounded peaks, peeled in the past to obtain pasture during transhumance. It is located next to the Neveras peak to the east and to the south next to Monte de Roñas, although it is very difficult to mark the exact limit between one and the other.
21. Brieva syncline
It constitutes the most characteristic and important Variscan structure of the Massif of Demand. The structure has a significant wingspan, both for the length of its axis and for the dimensions of its flanks. The cartographic expression of its EW direction axis is more than 30 kilometers long.
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