NAVAHERMOSA (GALAROZA)
GeoRoute: "Cortegrullo Viewpoint Circular Walk"
A journey through 500 million years of geological history
This trail is exceptional from an educational point of view because, over a very short distance, it allows visitors to discover the geological history of the Sierra de Aracena in three fascinating stages:
Geological viewpoint → a window into the past, with materials dating from the early Cambrian to the Devonian, bearing witness to ancient seas and major environmental changes.
Cubito’s Esquisses → a large shear zone where the rocks were deformed and recrystallised during the continental collision that gave rise to the Variscan mountain range.
Early Cambrian volcanosedimentary rocks → traces of undersea volcanoes, ash, lava and sediments from an ancient marine basin.
We won’t just be walking along a nature trail: we’ll be exploring a landscape shaped by vanished seas, extinct volcanoes and millions of years of history, amidst forests, rocky ridges and magnificent panoramic views.
A route to enjoy the surroundings and discover how stone preserves the memory of an ancient world.
GEOLOGY:
- We’ll be walking over rocks with 500 million years
- From the viewpoint, we will study the landscape to identify materials from the Cambrian, Ordovician, Devonian and other key periods of the region, understanding how ancient seas left behind sediments that today form mountain ranges, hillsides and valleys.
- We’ll discover a great shear zone, where the rocks were deformed during the collision of continents that gave rise to the Variscan mountain range, revealing their folds, foliation and metamorphism.
- We’ll delve into a scenario from the Early Cambrian, when undersea volcanoes were spewing lava and ash into a primordial marine basin.
- We will explore how lithology shapes the present-day landscape: topography, soils, vegetation, water sources and drainage.
- We will bring everything together into a holistic view so that we can learn to read the landscape and discover how each rock forms part of a great story written in stone.
FEATURES:
Meeting Point: Church of Our Lady of the Rosary (Navahermosa)
Distance: 6.2 km (there and back)
Max. altitude: 710 m / min: 540 m
Level: Medium
WOULD YOU LIKE TO GO ON THIS HIKING TRAIL?
Visit the EVENTS SECTION (Filter by Geotourism) on our main website (www.holisticanature.com) in case we’re organising a trip soon
Visit the SERVICE > GEOTOURISM on our main website (www.holisticanature.com) in case you’d like to book this activity for a specific date
