Masca Gorge () is a narrow

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...

in the north-west of the island of

Tenerife Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...

. The

gorge A canyon (; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), gorge or chasm, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tend ...

is situated within the Teno Massif. The gorge is a popular

tourist destination A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement. Types Places of natural beau ...

due to its dramatic scenery and unique

geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

. An eight-kilometre long walking trail begins at Masca village and continues for the length of the gorge to finish at Masca beach (Spanish: ), approximately ten kilometres from the north-west tip of Tenerife.

Geology

Masca Gorge is found within the Teno Massif, a

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

-age volcanic formation composed of

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

ic lava flows. Much of the gorge itself is formed by steeply-dipping volcanic flows. These flows are generally less than a metre thick and mostly basaltic with

scoria Scoria or cinder is a pyroclastic, highly vesicular, dark-colored volcanic rock formed by ejection from a volcano as a molten blob and cooled in the air to form discrete grains called clasts.Neuendorf, K.K.E., J.P. Mehl, Jr., and J.A. Jackso ...

ceous inclusions. The flows have subsequently been intruded by several swarms of dykes, many of which form cross-cutting relationships. A particular

formation Formation may refer to: Linguistics * Back-formation, the process of creating a new lexeme by removing or affixes * Word formation, the creation of a new word by adding affixes Mathematics and science * Cave formation or speleothem, a secondary ...

of interest is the Masca

Unconformity An unconformity is a buried erosional or non-depositional surface separating two rock masses or strata of different ages, indicating that sediment deposition was not continuous. In general, the older layer was exposed to erosion for an interval ...

. The unconformity consists of a polymictite

breccia Breccia ( , ; ) is a rock composed of large angular broken fragments of minerals or Rock (geology), rocks cementation (geology), cemented together by a fine-grained matrix (geology), matrix. The word has its origins in the Italian language ...

that varies in both thickness and dip angle depending on location. Within Masca Gorge, the breccia may be 10 – 15 metres, thick, and dip at an angle of 30 - 60 degrees to the north.Longpre et al.
"Volcanic and geochemical evolution of the Teno Massif, Tenerife, Canary Islands (4.2: Description of Stratigraphic Units: Masca Unconformity)"
''American Geophysical Union'', 2009

References

External links

Geocache hidden at Masca Gorge

Volcanic and geochemical evolution of the Teno Massif, Tenerife, Canary Islands: some repercussions of giant landslides on ocean island magmatism

The growth, collapse and quiescence of Teno volcano, Tenerife: new constraints from palaeomagnetic data
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