The Majo sacred mountain and the north coast

Montana Tindaya

The pale coloured peak of Tindaya, near La Oliva, was a sacred mountain of the indigenous Majo people. Even today a permit is required to access the summit area. The rock itself is much more felsic than most, hence the paler colour.

Pliocene sea floor

Tindaya's lower slopes are blanketed by Pliocene marine sediments deposited during a period of higher sea level. There is good evidence in the numerous sea shells.

 On the coast to the west, near an abandoned urbanisation, are some superb exposures of the seamount series rocks, unconformably overlain by subaerial volcanics and some marine sediments

Lobos from the road west of Coralejo

 A graded track runs along the north coast - a little bumpy but perfectly drivable - and it has great views north towards Isla de Lobos and Lanzarote. In between the a'a flows from the chain of scoria cones to the south there are beautiful little sandy coves

Peridotite xenolith in basalt

 North of Coralejo harbour some rock armour contains beautiful mantle xenoliths, such as this one made up mainly of fresh and weathered olivine and plagioclase feldspar

Cats getting warmed up on some cosy basalt!