Cabo de gata

CABO DE GATA

INDEX 1. Introduction…………………………………………………………….page 3.

2. Location……………………………………………………………..page 4 .

2.1. Types of rocks…………………………………………………………...page 5.

2.2. Formation………………………………………………………………. page 6.

2.3. External Agents………………………………………………………… page 7.

2.4. Internal Agents…………………………………………………………..page 8.

2.5. The Weather……………………………………………………………...page 9.

3. Human activities, economy and population……………………………… page 10.

4. Vegetation and animals…………………………………………………… page 11.

5. Saint mine of Cabo de Gata………………………………………………..page 16.

6. Beaches…………………………………………………………………….page 17.

7. Routes……..……………………………………………………………….page 18.

8. Posidonia…………………………………………………………………...page 19.

9. Impact of the landscape…………………………………………………….page 20.

10. Curiosity…………………………………………………………………..page 21.

11. Conclusion………………………………………………………………...page 22.

12. Webgraphy………………………………………………………………...page 23.

VIDEO OF CABO DE GATO.

INTRODUCTION In this project we are going to speak about Cabo de Gata-Níjar. Let’s know more about its formation, its vegetation… Also we are going to tell you some curiosities.

We hope you like it very much.

LOCATION Cabo de Gata-Níjar is in the southeastern corner of Spain, is Andalusia’s largest coastal protected area, a wild and isolated landscape with some of Europe's most original geological features.

TYPES OF ROCKS Cabo de Gata rocks are volcanic rocks and are mostly volcanic rocks formed by fragments of different composition: brecciated. The most renowned are the: dacitas, rhyolites, andesite, granulites, basalt and tuffs. There are also volcanic minerals such as quartz.

DACITAS

GRANULITE

RHYOLITE

BASALT

ANDESITE

TUFFS

FORMATION Cabo de Gata is placed at risk of emission of subterranean magma, this generated volcanic buildings formed when the magma came out to the surface from 6 and 15 millions of years, it created the most important volcanic formation of the Iberian Peninsula.

EXTERNAL AGENTS In Cabo de Gata we can see the following external agents: coastal modeling and wind farm modeling.

- Wind farm modelling can be distinguished between the dunes of deserts in the few meters Mรณnsul Beach, up to 10 meters in height. Formed when the slime dragged it settles out these and creates deposits called loess.

- Coastal modelling can be distinguished the beaches formed by fine sand and gray.

And by the movements of the sea that forms: waves, currents and tides, the erosions differential on different types and rock.

WIND FARM MODELLING. Loess: it is a sedimentary geological material wind.

COASTAL MODELLING

INTERNAL AGENTS In Cabo de Gata we can see the Granatilla Volcano, we can also call Cerro del Hoyazo. The dome is the erosionated rests from the last eruptive episode where the lava stayed below the crater and the volcano cooled and solidificated.

GRANATILLA VOLCANO

THE WEATHER - The physical environment that supports the park is conditioned by a climate of considerable dryness, due to its proximity to the sea and the orogenic phenomena of volcanic nature.

- The ambient temperatures are stable throughout the year, with annual averages between 18 and 20°c. The summers are warm, with averages of 26 º C and the mild winters with averages of 12 º C. - Raining is very rare, being the place where it rains the least in the whole peninsula.

Orogenic: Belonging or relative to the orogeny.

Orogeny: Part of the geology that studies the formation of the mountains.

HUMAN ACTIVITIES, ECONOMY AND POPULATION The vast majority of Cabo de Gata’s towns and villages’ economy is based on rural and coastal tourism and fishing, along with leisure activities such as kayaking, scuba diving and senderism.

Almost more than 1 million people visit Cabo de Gata per year, being the most common ones the international tourists. Every year, the number of tourists increases considerably.

The most remarkable towns are San José, Carboneras, Agua Amarga and Rodalquilar, among others.

VEGETATION AND ANIMALS TERRESTRIAL ANIMALS The fauna that can be found in Cabo de Gata is very variated.These animals have developed specific characteristics that make them able to endure the very arid weather of the zone.

The most characteristic mammals are rabbits, hares and goats.

Reptiles and amphibians are much more common in this area, being the Montpellier snake, the chameleons and the lizards the most characteristic ones.

MONTPELLIER SNAKE Developed: desarrollado.

CHAMELEON

A VERY CHARACTERISTIC SPECIE In the Saint of Cabo de Gata we can also find pink flamenco, where more than 3,000 birds are reached. It also concentrates every year thousands of tourists and fans of bird watching.

These spectacular birds have a large size and feathers.

Reached: llegar

MARINE ANIMALS The most distinguishable species of the marine fauna are the sea bass and cuttlefish, squid, melva, red mullet and venus clam.

CUTTLEFISH

RED MULLET

SQUID The fishing of some species of Cabo de Gata’s environment is prohibited. Currently underwater fishing is completely prohibited

VEGETATION The vegetation of Cabo de Gata is one of the richest in Almeria, since more than 1,000 different species have been cataloged in this area. But it is true, that rains very little throughout the year.

As more representative plants we find: the marine fennel and the marine daisy adapted to live in the saline soils and the gorse and the thyme in the steppe zone.

An exclusive plant of Cabo de Gata (endemism) is the clavellina of Cabo de Gata.

There are also underwater meadows of oceanic Posidonia where there is an immense variety of living beings.

SALT MINES OF CABO DE GATA The exploitation of these salt mines remounts to the Ancient Era and they are still active nowadays, being obtained more than 40.000 tons of salt per year.

Also they have a great environmental value since they have lots of different species of living beings and host lots of bird migrations and others animals’ hibernations every year.

They were created by the displacement of salt sediments from the ravines towards the coast due to the water’s movement.

They cover about 400 meters of land by the Mediterranean coast.

Ravines : Watercourses

BEACHES BEACH LAS NEGRAS: The beach has a length of 850 meters, and being in the center of the village consists of all kinds of services such as coastal surveillance, catering, accommodations, tourist activities.

BEACH SAN JOSÉ: This beach has a width of 42 meters, a length of 850 and a fine golden sand. It spreads through the bay making nice bends in which to shelter from the wind.

BEACH LOS MUERTOS: It is a rustic beach of 2000m long is a beach of coarse sand and gravel but nevertheless its waters are very transparent.

ROUTES ROUTE A LA VELA BLANCA: This route has a linear path has a distance of 3, 4 km and lasts about 1 hour and 40 minutes. It has low difficulty.

ROUTE ESCULLOS-ISLETA DEL MORO: This route has a linear path has a distance of 1,6 km and an approximate time of 50 minutes. It has low difficulty.

ROUTE VÍA VERDE DE LUCAINENA A AGUAMARGA: This route has a circular path and has a distance of 8.2 km and a duration of approximately 2 hours and 40 min. It’s quite long and with a little more difficulty.

POSIDONIA The posidonia is an oceanic plant, solely from the Mediterranean sea, with an important ecological value because it protects the coast from erosion and lots of animals and smaller vegetal organisms live inside them, since that way it’s easier for them to find refuge and nourishment. Also they’re a great bioindicator since they only grow in pollution-free, welloxygenated areas.

It’s essential for us to conserve them since they grow very slowly, only 1 to 6 cm per year but provide our oceanic environment with a lot of biodiversity and cleaner, healthier water.

Nourishment: Food

IMPACT ON THE LANDSCAPE In the Natural Park of Cabo de Gata-NĂ­jar, there have been built lots of infrastructures that harm both nature and the development of its inhabitants, both humans and animals. It is also the main attraction for tourism, since the most important branch of tourism in Cabo de Gata is rural tourism.

In these spaces there have been built cisterns, water wheels, mills, castles, houses and watchtowers that deteriorate the natural landscape and its surroundings.

CURIOSITY The abundance of agates in the field, which had given rise to the Phoenician name, made to retake it during the middle ages, being known as out of the agate. By phonetic contraction, eventually imposed which is used at the present time.

CONCLUSION This project has helped us a lot in order to know more about the place that we live next to and its wonderful beaches, villages, its formation, vegetation, weather, fauna...

We enjoyed doing this job a lot because we learnt many things.

WEBGRAPHY https://www.parquenatural.com/ https://www.degata.com/ www.parquenatural.com https://www.parquenatural.com/informacion/id/39 https://www.degata.com/el-complejo-volcanico-en-cabo-de-gata/ flora http://www.turismoalmeria.com/el-flamenco-rosado-mas-que-un-ave-un-emblema-de-costa-de-almeria http://www.cabodegata.net/esecocnf.html https://www.parquenatural.com/playas-cabo-de-gata https://www.parquenatural.com/rutas https://www.cabogataalmeria.com/Cabo-Gata/Playa/Negras-Playa-Cabo-Gata.html https://www.parquenatural.com/playa/sanjose https://www.degata.com/playa-de-los-muertos/

-And also we found information in our Biology and Geology book.

BY: Estela, Mª Carmen, Laura y Lucía CLASS: 3ºA