A walk from the Ocean to the Desert in the central Betic Cordillera (Granada Geopark)

This resource documents a three-day field tour, beginning and ending in Huelva, designed to review 7 million years of diverse sedimentary environments. The itinerary starts with deep-marine sedimentation in the Tethys Ocean, continues through coastal systems linked to the tectonic uplift of the area and the disconnection between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea at the end of the Miocene, and progresses into the paleogeography of the fluvial and lacustrine systems that occupied the basin during its endorheic stage. The tour culminates with the processes responsible for the geomorphological inversion of the basin, which since the Pleistocene has been subjected to one of the highest erosion rates in Europe. The field trip offers the opportunity to explore the remarkable landscapes of the Granada Geopark (UNESCO), considered one of the oldest human habitats on the European continent. Throughout the excursion, participants will recognize the sedimentary record of a wide range of depositional systems, both marine and continental. The marine record includes examples of (hemi)pelagic systems, mixed terrigenous-carbonate platforms, reefs, and Gilbert-type deltas. The continental record encompasses alluvial fans, high-sinuosity rivers, and shallow lakes.