The Bandama Natural Monument is part of the Tafira Protected Landscape on the island of

Gran Canaria Gran Canaria (, ; ), also Grand Canary Island, is the third-largest and second-most-populous island of the Canary Islands, a Spain, Spanish archipelago off the Atlantic coast of Northwest Africa. the island had a population of that constitut ...

in the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. It is considered a point of geological interest, because of the Caldera de Bandama. This volcanic crater, which is geologically a

maar A maar is a broad, low-relief volcanic crater caused by a phreatomagmatic eruption (an explosion which occurs when groundwater comes into contact with hot lava or magma). A maar characteristically fills with water to form a relatively shallow ...

rather than a

caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcanic eruption. An eruption that ejects large volumes of magma over a short period of time can cause significant detriment to the str ...

, reaches 569 m (1,867 ft) above sea level at the highest point on its rim, Pico de Bandama, and is about 1,000 m (3,300 ft) wide and 200 m (700 ft) deep. The crater was developed during the last heavy eruptions 2000 years ago. It is recorded as the most recent volcanic activity on Gran Canaria. The bottom of the caldera contains volcanic ash of different colors, and some botanic species of Canary Islands origin. Inside the caldera can be found an endemic bush, Dama de Bandama (''Parolinia glabriuscula''), that grows nowhere else. The Caldera de Bandama is located at the meeting point of three municipalities:

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital city of the Canary Islands (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife) and the m ...

, Santa Brígida and

Telde Telde is a municipality in the eastern part of the island of Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, overseas (Atlantic) insular Spain. It borders Las Palmas to the north and is part of its urban area. It is the second most populous municipality on the is ...

Gallery

Bandama Caldera, Gran Canaria, May 2018.jpg, Caldera de Bandama, Gran Canaria Pico de Bandama 2016 04.jpg, Caldera de Bandama, 2016 Pico de Bandama 2016 05.jpg, View toward the northeast from Pico de Bandama, 2016

References

External links

Monumento Natural de Bandama
official info, in Spanish {{Authority control Landforms of Gran Canaria Volcanoes of the Canary Islands Maars Protected areas of the Canary Islands