The Zona Volcànica de la Garrotxa Natural Park ( Catalan: ') is a natural park area covering a

Holocene The Holocene () is the current geologic time scale, geological epoch, beginning approximately 11,700 years ago. It follows the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene to ...

volcanic field A volcanic field is an area of Earth's Earth's crust, crust that is prone to localized volcano, volcanic activity. The type and number of volcanoes required to be called a "field" is not well-defined. Volcanic fields usually consist of clusters ...

(also known as the Garrotxa volcanic field or Olot volcanic field) in

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

, northeastern

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. The volcanoes, of which there are about forty within the park, are no longer active, with the last eruption ( Croscat) occurring about 11,000 years ago. However, the region is still

seismically active An active fault is a fault that is likely to become the source of another earthquake sometime in the future. Geologists commonly consider faults to be active if there has been movement observed or evidence of seismic activity during the last 10,0 ...

, and a large earthquake in 1428 caused damage to buildings and twenty deaths in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, to the south. More recent earthquakes in 1901 and 1902 caused shaking but little damage. The park covers 12,093.02

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...

s, and includes territory from eleven

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the ''comarca'' of

Garrotxa Garrotxa () is a comarca (county) in the Girona region, Catalonia, Spain. Its population in 2016 was 55,999, more than half of them in the capital city of Olot. It is roughly equivalent to the historical County of Besalú. Geography Garrotx ...

. The built-up areas of

Olot Olot (; ) is the capital city of the ''Catalonia/Comarques, comarca'' of Garrotxa, in the Province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. The city is known for its natural landscape, including four volcanoes scattered around the city center. The municipali ...

Santa Pau Santa Pau () is a village and municipality in the province of Girona and autonomous community of Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of ...

Sant Joan les Fonts Sant Joan les Fonts () is a municipality of the Comarques of Catalonia, comarca of Garrotxa, located in Girona, Catalonia, northern Spain. As of 2014, the population is 2,919. Until 1949 it was known as Begudà. It is part of the Zona Volcànica d ...

and

Castellfollit de la Roca Castellfollit de la Roca () is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of Garrotxa, in the Province of Girona, Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its St ...

are completely surrounded by the park. Including these urban areas, the population of the park is more than 40,000 people, and the economic development of the zone is one of the objectives of the park management, while trying to avoid the damage caused by

quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mining, open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock (geology), rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some juri ...

ing,

urban sprawl Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city". Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted ...

and illegal waste disposal. Some 980.86 ha of the park, including the best preserved

volcanic cone Volcanic cones are among the simplest volcanic landforms. They are built by ejecta from a volcanic vent, piling up around the vent in the shape of a cone with a central crater. Volcanic cones are of different types, depending upon the nature and s ...

s, are fully protected as

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

Geology

The Garrotxa field is a

monogenetic volcanic field A monogenetic volcanic field is a type of volcanic field consisting of a group of small monogenetic volcanoes, each of which erupts only once, as opposed to polygenetic volcanoes, which erupt repeatedly over a period of time. The small monogenetic ...

, with each volcano representing a single period of eruption. The field became active about 700,000 years ago,. and is the most recent example of volcanic activity in northeastern Catalonia, which dates back 10 million years. It contains numerous tossols.

References

Bibliography

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pp. 1–59pp. 60–106
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External links

Official siteGarrotxa Volcanic Zone Natural ParkFageda de'n Jordá
{{Authority control Volcanic fields Volcanoes of Catalonia Garrotxa Natural parks of Catalonia Protected areas established in 1982 Holocene volcanoes Inactive volcanoes 1982 establishments in Catalonia

Geology

See also

References

Bibliography

External links