Stylized “mountains” of the Basque Coast
Avatar

Stylized “mountains” of the Basque Coast

by Maela Baldan, Università degli Studi di Padova - Department of Geosciences, Padova, Italy

I saw this stylized “mountains” during a trekking at Itzurun Beach in Zumaia, Spain. Here, I was impressed by the vision of the Flysch, a characteristic geologic formation of the Basque Coast resulting from a phenomenon of plate tectonics and sea water interacting with natural sedimentation. This rock formation stands at the point on Earth where the Bay of Biscay and the Pyrenees mountains were created, around 110 million years ago. UNESCO and the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) have recognised its international importance and its history can be read at Basque Coast Geopark site (https://geoparkea.eus/en/science-education/geology)