Guardal River valley

Strong fitting of the Guardal river in a section of more than 2 km long downstream from the vicinity of Duda (district of Huéscar).

In this section, the Guardal River generates an impressive karstic canyon with vertical walls, which can exceed 100 meters of gradient in some points. The canyon develops mainly in limestones of Jurassic age belonging to the Subbaetic domain. In the upper section, coinciding with detritic deposits of alluvial fans from the Sierras de Duda and Cerro del Cubo, the walls cease to be vertical, generating the typical cross-sectional profile of the river valleys.  In addition, to the landscape / geomorphological aspect, the strong embedding of the river allows the observation and study of a potent succession of limestones and margo limestones of the Subbaetic domain, which, together with the travertine deposits associated with the evolution and embedding of the river, make this LIG also have stratigraphic interest.

This section of the valley also shows structures such as folds and faults that affect the carbonate rocks of the subbaetic.