The municipality of Granadilla de Abona, in the south of Tenerife has natural landscapes and corners of great geological value that make it one of the richest in biodiversity. Many of these places have formations of great scientific, cultural and natural interest on a national and global level, which have been the subject of study for years.
In the surroundings of Montaña Roja there is a curious concentration of fossilized remains with the appearance of sand tubes, which was generated after the largest earthquake known in the Canary Islands and which is called earthquakes of El Médano.
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How they were formed
Luis González Vallejo, professor of Geological Engineering at the Complutense University, explained in 2011 that the El Médano earthquakes were created by a large earthquake originating in an underwater fault, between 3,000 and 10,000 years ago, compressing the humid terrain and causing the water to escape. form of sand volcanoes: “They are unique in the world due to their exceptional state of conservation,” González Vallejo explained at that time.
The El Médano earthquakes could have been up to 4 meters thick and 30 centimeters in diameter. However, many of these sand volcanoes were destroyed by the extraction of debris to build the southern Tenerife highway (TF-1) in the 1970s.
“Fossil nests”
In another article published in DIARIO DE AVISOS on October 31, 2011, CSIC geologist Joan Martí said that the aforementioned fossilized remains are, in reality, worm nests.
“Since I saw them for the first time, they immediately reminded me of the so-called rhizocretions, formed by lithophagous animals, worms that expel the sand to make their way and be able to make their nests,” said Martí, supporting his hypothesis that “when it comes of earthquakes, they look like folds in the ground, but they are not points or tubes, like in El Médano.”