Ichnofossils, ultra-K volcanics and an unexpected eruption!

The barbecue planned for the evening meant that this day was planned to be a tad shorter than others: we put our faith in Emily and this time found the fossil site – though sadly diminished. Still, we found quite a few Palaeodictyon and Helminthoidea etc in a single bank of rubble along the side of new agricultural buildings built on the old quarry.

An unexpected bonus here was a Greater Spotted Cuckoo which obviously enjoyed having its picture taken.

About now news began to filter through, initially via a text from Sue, about the eruption of Eyafjellajokull in Iceland which would play a major part in difficulties getting the group back to the UK though we didn’t really realise the enormity of the problem at the time.

After a coffee fix in Sorbas we headed out into the campo north of Cariatiz to drive a transect of the Sierra de los Filabres. The track initially seemed a lot better than last summer although we took a wrong turn, came to a washout, and had to retrace our steps before we finally got on the right road. Once there it was really good with metagranite + tourmaline and gneiss and marble. However by the time we reached the summit of the hills we were in dense cloud and very muddy roadworks so decided to head back onto the main road west of Lubrin to a known marble and amphibolite exposure. Sadly it was yet another victim of recent resurfacing, crash barriering and ditching and it was impossible to stop to look at it. 

Luckily we were able to stop east of Bédar to look at the ‘granite’ there – really banded and augen gneiss really before going on to Cabezo de María near Vera. This fascinating ultra-K volcano lies just west of the town of Vera and is the type locality for verite, an ultra-K lamproite. It lends itself to exploration as 3 tracks dissect it with good exposures alongside of the metamorphic rocks and basin sediments as well as the volcanic rocks themselves which include peperite and possible pillows as well as glassy lava full of lined vesicles.

The BBQ was excellent – Bert cooked, Trevor washed up, and Sally’s team had shopped well for chops, sausages and so on and made masses of salads. Jan and I benefited to the tune of a bottle of Sangre de Toro and €40 for a meal out.