El patrimonio geológico de Las Hoces del Júcar (La Manchuela-Albacete)Una propuesta de lugar de interés geológico

Abstract

The Júcar River, northeast of the province of Albacete, works spectacular gorges between the villages of Valdeganga and Alcalá del Júcar. From this last village, the meandering decreases but, nevertheless, it draws a canyon that has deepened to under 200 meters in the vicinity of the village of Villar de Ves. The geological element allows us to differentiate these two sections. In the first one, gorges appear on Pliocene lacustrine limestone, which gives to the landscape a strong personality and exclusivity, since in the peninsula there is no other such example of a canyon carved on recent materials. The second section, which is in the provincial border with Valencia, has Mesozoic materials embedded in it, which results in a morphology that is more common in other Spanish valleys. In the geomorphological process of cutting, the Júcar has left many tuffas traces as well as a remarkable abandoned meander. Both elements constitute a first-rate geomorphological heritage and have served for dating this geomorphological evolution. A proposal for protecting these elements fits in the law of Castilla-La Mancha, perfectly.