Tapas and Tallante xenoliths

Second recce day – northward with Tallante volcano main objective. However we took Ivan’s advice and went along the coast road between the Sierra Almagrera and the Med and found umpteen lovely little coves plus some serious but untouched industrial archaeology left over from teh Sierra Almagrera silver mining era, and some villas in unspoilt cove settings which were to die for!
Back onto the main coast road (but studiously avoiding the new AP7 toll motorway, we drove down into the Cabo Cope Parque Natural through interesting towns, stopped by quiet, clean beaches in Calabardina for pulpo tapas and coffee, found beautiful yellow broomrape growing by the roadside and eventually found our way to Tallante.

I’m always amazed when somewhere is just where it was on Google Earth and on the geology map but there the scoria cone was, right down to the promised slurry tanks as a marker for the exposures! We walked up the track and scoured the hillside for the interesting bits. Around the lower slopes were micaceous schist and quartzite but as we got further up we found basalt scoria that had rolled down the hill and eventually in situ; it was all cemented into place with a CaCO3  caliche deposit. Over to the left (S) seemed more productive from the point of view of lherzolite xenoliths but on the right there were really big hornblende crystals – 2 cm across – as well as schist xenoliths of metre scale.

We decided to check out the Mazarrón mining area on the way back and easily found it complete with an interpretation board. Had an enjoyable wander up through but without finding any signs of the Ag-Pb-Zn mineralisation we expected/hoped for. Small signs of copper; perhaps iron, but that was it. Mega-scale industrial archaeology – old buildings, tailings dams, headgear, office buildings, tips etc. But that was all. The bee-eaters were good though!
Home again on the coast road and the promise of a day off tomorrow before the punters arrive on Saturday.