The Betancuria Massif

Looking north from Morro de Veloso

We began the day with a trip up to the mirador at Morro de Veloso where we managed to kill 3 birds with one stone - we saw some stupendous views  across much of the island.

Spotting dyke trends along a track

We found evidence of the NNE-SSW trending dyke swarm ...

and we had a coffee!


Then we went on to see more evidence of dykes on the road south of Betancuria where the syenite dykes in a road cutting also contained blobs of darker, more mafic material

Cutting south of Betancuria

Syenite dyke with mafic blebs

.. as well as some stunning Liesegang ring patterns and manganese dendrites!

Liesegang rings and manganese dendrites

Vega de Rio de Palmas

From there we headed down into Vega de Rio de Palma where the track down towards the gorge promised a section through part of the igneous 'ring complex' - the heart of the shield volcano that existed here some 20 Ma ago.
The best was along the first part of the path where there were exposures of a beautiful pale gabbro with clumps of mafic minerals, all crosscut by  at least 2 sets of dykes. Finally the high afternoon temperatures kicked in and we turned back and headed for the pool at Caleta de Fuste!

Gabbro in the Vega ring complex

Mafic and felsic dykes cutting the gabbro

Shade!