Micro documentaries on earth sciences
We are used to seeing many phenomena around us unfold in cycles: the water cycle, the carbon cycle, solar cycles, the alternation of day and night, the seasons. We also know that during the Quaternary —the most recent geological period in Earth’s history, extending from around 2.58 million years ago to the present— there have been numerous … Continue reading Strange Landscapes
The word “pagensis” is of Latin origin and literally means “inhabitant of a pagus,” where pagus is understood as a village, district, or rural area in the Roman Empire. The term “pagensis” referred to people who lived in these territories, that is, villagers or peasants, the “payeses” or “paisanos.” From this same origin comes the … Continue reading Landscape and its people
Those of us who have had the fortune to study will no doubt remember some mediocre, dull, and obscure teacher who would merely recite, with an almost infinite lack of enthusiasm, what was written in the textbook, managing to make students instantly detest the subject and want nothing more to do with it. Yet, surely, … Continue reading Climb to Peñalara
The Province of Guadalajara has a great diversity of geological landscapes, such as the slates, quartzites, and gneisses of the Sierra Norte, the large tectonized basin of the Iberian System filled with Mesozoic sandy, marly, and limestone materials, the Tertiary karstified limestones of La Alcarria, and the Quaternary fluvial valley and terraces of the Henares—all … Continue reading Mine Estrella. Pardos, Guadalajara
Undoubtedly, the construction of dams for water storage has been a driving force for human development since the dawn of civilizations. The earliest dams date approximately between 3000 and 2600 B.C., in Mesopotamia and Egypt. Stored water has many uses, with the primary one being the supply of potable water for human consumption. However, the … Continue reading Rivers without barriers
The autonomous community of Murcia is one of the Spanish regions with the most significant mining activity throughout the known history of the Iberian Peninsula. Various deposits of mainly hydrothermal origin (associated with volcanic processes) led to an intense exploitation of metals such as copper, iron, zinc, and lead, which concentrated in the 18th and … Continue reading Mine María, Baños de Gilico
The footprints of our ancestors, even though they are distant in time, move us. We strive to identify with them, imagining how they lived, worked, and thought. However, we often fall into self-deception: we like to believe that they were like us, their descendants, and that archaeological vestiges reflect an existence similar to ours. This … Continue reading Beliefs
Much has been said and written about the affinity of certain mushroom species to mycorrhize in association or close proximity with specific plant species. A long time ago, the scientific community identified numerous species of fungi as symbiotic organisms with a special bond to specific ecosystems. These species are considered a fundamental part of environmental … Continue reading The geology of mushrooms: Boletus aereus and reticulatus
Mineral collectors have a sixth sense for detecting any human activity that exposes what lies beneath the earth: trenches for sanitation and drainage, cuts in road widening, slope failures, various excavations, or different types of mining operations that have been resumed, removed, or altered. Taking a walk and inspecting what the machines have unearthed often … Continue reading Minerals of the Cabezo Negro de Albatera. Los Serranos Quarry
The Salt of the Triassic The Gentle Valleys of the Iberian System in Spain, whether located in the provinces of Guadalajara, Cuenca, Valencia or Teruel, are characterized by a low-elevation relief, with rounded profiles and are defined by those characteristic reddish and greenish colors that give the marls and clays of the Keuper (Upper Triassic). … Continue reading Saltworks in the Gentle Valleys of the Iberian System
intemperie.home.blog 