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Articles in ‘Geology’
Mediterranean flood mystery solved
December 10th, 2009 A new study published in Nature has revealed details of the catastrophic flood that refilled the Mediterranean Sea more than five million years ago. The flood occurred when Atlantic waters cut through into the Mediterranean basin which had dried up when Africa crashed into Iberia, drying out the trapped Mediterranean. The researchers say that a 200km channel across the Gibraltar strait was carved out by the floodwaters. It may have may involved peak rates of sea level rise in the Mediterranean of over 10 metres a day and may have taken just two years to fill up. Imagine the immense power of the waterfall at Gibraltar. BBC See also: The biggest waterfall in geological history (with video)Aragonite
March 12th, 2009
Spain has given the world a limited number of mineral names, including Aragonite. Aragonite was first identfied by one Abraham Gottlob Werner from a piece from Molina de Aragón (Guadalajara), which he erroneously believed to be in Aragon.The largest deposits of Aragonite in the world are found in Molina de Aragón, and in Minglanilla in Cuenca.
Geological sites in Spain to be protected
February 27th, 2009From a geological point of view, Spain is extremely varied with sites as old as 600 million years and showing rare examples of the planet’s evolution. Two parallel projects now seek to document this national heritage. The aim of the first project is to include 144 Spanish sites on the Unesco world list of outstanding geological sites. The second project seeks to create a Spanish catalogue of geological sites of interest, which will then allow them to be protected by law, and include sites in Abella, Isona and Camarasa, in Lérida; Punta Aitzgorri in Zumaya (Basque Country), and the Sorbas reefs in Almería. Other interesting places to be protected include the amber deposits in Peñacerrada, El Soplao, in Cantabria, the carboniferous forest of Verdeña, and the ichnite (dinosaur track) sites found in a number of areas.
El País
List of sites
The biggest waterfall in geological history
December 21st, 2007Excellent post from Steve on the forum “Some 5.5 million years ago the force of Africa colliding with Europe, closed the straits of Gibraltar, sealing off the Med, which then evaporated over 2000 years. The straits were then breached by the Atlantic and the basin filled up again over 100 years. This happened many times and resulted in massive salt accumulations. The Nile and Rhone created deep canyons as they cut down to the deep desert basin than had once been the Med” Read complete post Also watch this video.
Earthquakes in the Iberian Peninsula
December 13th, 2007I came acrosss this interesting map from the Instituto Geográfico Nacional of earthquakes in the Iberian Peninsula in the last ten days equal to above 1.5. As the image is a feed, what you’re seeing is updated (every day I think). Click here for a list of earthquakes with details of location and intensity. More on earthquakes in Spain
Spanish mercury mining
December 3rd, 2007New page on IbNat on Spanish mercury mining. The Almadén deposits account for the largest quantity of liquid mercury metal produced, historically, in the world.
Spanish Caves
July 7th, 2007I’ve put together this short guide to caves in Spain. I will be adding more material soon. Below la Torca del Carlista in the Basque Country, the largest cavern in Europe. Only currently accessible to expert cavers.
Photo of the Torca del Carlista
Glaciers of Iberia
January 3rd, 2007The main page iberianture page on Glaciers of Spain is here
Tsunamis in Iberia
January 3rd, 2007I put together this short piece on Tsunamis in Portugal and Spain
The rainfall records for Spain keep tumbling. According to the latest provisional figures 
I’ve just come across 
Three Iberian lynxes of the captive breeding programme have died in recent weeks from a renal disease. Lynxes in the wild are thought not to suffer from this disease.