Lanzarote and Chinijo Islands Geopark: From Earth to Space

Lanzarote and Chinijo Islands UNESCO Global Geopark (UGG) presents a long geological history dating back to the Oligocene, where several constructive and destructive geological processes have taken place up to nowadays. Lanzarote has been built almost only from basaltic materials, grouped in three stages of volcanic construction, one submarine and two subaerial. During the first phase, Oligocene in age, the basement of the island is constructed, constituted by submarine volcanic materials, plutonic rocks and sediments. During the Mio-Pliocene and the Pleistocene-Holocene there were two stages of subaerial volcanic activity separated by an eruptive hiatus of at least 2.5 Ma when the ancient Mio-Pliocene volcanic structures were continuously eroded to model their original morphologies, giving place to different sedimentary deposits, with an important presence of aeolian sands throughout the islands and beaches in the coastal areas. In more recent times, two historical eruptions have occurred in Lanzarote Island, in 1730–36 and in 1824, indeed causing a great impact in the landscape and life of the inhabitants something that remains until now.

Lanzarote and Chinijo Islands are part of the Canary archipelago situated in the Atlantic Ocean and they have been included into the UNESCO Global Geopark network since 2015. The formation and evolution of Lanzarote and Chinijo Islands can be understood through the visit of 82 geosites, included in eight geological frameworks, which are representative of the geology and geodiversity of a volcanic oceanic island in a semiarid climate. Most geosites are of international or national relevance, but this Geopark has representative and unique geosites where more than 20% of them are included in the “Recent volcanism of Timanfaya (Lanzarote)” geosite of the Global Geosites Project that is the global inventory of Earth’s geoheritage (ProGeo and IUGS-UNESCO). The new inventory supposes a change in the limits of the geopark, which would now extend from the sea floor to the emerged parts of the island of Lanzarote and Chinijo Islands. Most of the geosites are well preserved since they are located in Natural Protected Areas. However, a first approach to their geoconservation status allows us to identify some problems such as furtive extraction of rocks and fossils, urban and tourist pressure, and extractive activities or natural processes that have supposed, in some few cases, the irreversible loss of their geoheritage.

The inventory of the Lanzarote and Chinijo Islands UNESCO Global Geopark (UGG) includes 82 geosites, out of which 17 are linked to the deposits associated with the eruptions of Timanfaya, that took place between 1730 and 1736, and Chinero and Tinguatón eruption, which occurred in 1824. The volcanic field originated during these two historical events occupies a 210 km² area, which represents 25% of the island surface, and is formed by numerous lava flows and large-scale volcanic lineaments. This volcanic field contains more than 30 cones that show numerous and valuable tectonic, structural, volcanological and geomorphological features that are enhanced by their favorable state of conservation. All of them are included in protected sectors that contribute to its dissemination and conservation. In this chapter, the detailed geological study of the Geosites associated with the historical volcanism of Lanzarote is carried out, a general overview of the main geological landmarks of the evolution of both eruptions. The study of the cones that make up the volcanic field shows that the temporary-space variations of the eruptive styles, the architecture of the resulting volcanoes, as well as their geochemical and tectonic features, represent an excellent example of the complexity of monogenetic volcanism of intraplate oceanic islands.

The volcanic origin of Lanzarote and the islets located to the north and their relatively young age does not allow an extensive paleontological record, which does not exceed the upper Miocene (around 7 Ma). However, the fact of being oceanic volcanic islands defines the urgent need to preserve the few paleontological sites that allows us to reconstruct the evolution of the Paleobiodiversity of the Canary archipelago. In this chapter a review of the legal framework that protects the paleontological heritage of the Canary Islands is made, considering the main figures of protection and the management that has been carried out on them up to this moment. In addition, a brief description of the marine and terrestrial geosites of paleontological interest of the UNESCO Global Geopark of Lanzarote and Chinijo Islands is added, emphasizing its state of conservation and the risks of loss that these geosites present.

Volcanic oceanic islands are large buildings that grow from the ocean floor up to their highest peaks above sea level. It is estimated that only a small part of the volcanic edifices emerge above sea level, leaving almost 90% of the volcanic structure submerged. The geology of this submerged area is mainly known from indirect geophysical studies, general and detail mapping, bathymetry, and some drill holes and different types of dredges and humanned–unhumanned submersibles. However, this information is quite poor for geoheritage studies since it does not allow a geological classification of the environment, their genesis and geoheritage value. Hence, direct observation in inner platform and coastal zones has become essential to identify submerged geological structures, rocks, sediments, pyroclastic deposits and morphologies that could be considered as part of a geoheritage inventory. In fact, underwater there are unique and representative geological elements, which in many cases are visited by divers who do not know their significance and value, since their main objective is to observe the fauna and submarine scenery. Therefore, the identification and enhancement of underwater shallow geological heritage is crucial for the development of one of the emerging resources, underwater and diving geotourism. This study contributes to the knowledge of the shallow submarine geology of Lanzarote and Chinijo Islands UNESCO Global Geopark and highlights the existence of fifteen geosites suitable for the implementation of sustainable submarine geotourism.

Lanzarote is a well-established tourist destination with numerous geosites located in tourist centers on the island, such as seven Art, Culture and Tourism Centers, the Timanfaya National Park, Cesar Manrique’s Foundation and some tourist attractions like Los Hervideros cliff, Salinas del Janubio or El Golfo volcano. Although these places are visited mainly for their spectacular scenery and performance, until now, there was a lack of geological information and interpretation about those emblematic natural sites. Thus, the Lanzarote and Chinijo Islands UNESCO Global Geopark has developed a geoconservation strategy by promoting sustainable geotourism. The main aims of this strategy are to improve the knowledge of the geological elements present in tourist areas as well as to widen the touristic offer by promoting less known geosites and alternative geo-routes. In order to improve the outreach of geology and the tourist experience through the understanding of geoheritage that underlies the volcanic landscape, two actions have been implemented: 17 interpretative panels for Lanzarote and La Graciosa Islands, and 5 geo-routes by car in Lanzarote. The interpretative panels and the geo-route brochures guide visitors through the geology of the UGG, including some aspects of historical, cultural and natural interest. The geo-routes themes selected, go from the formation of ancient volcanic massifs to quaternary eruptions and sedimentary processes. Interpretative panels, road guides and brochures are meant to promote a more sustainable alternative to the prevailing “sun and beach” tourism on the islands. Carrying out these actions, this UNESCO Global Geopark improves its outreach information, and in turn upgrades tourist infrastructures, trying to draw the attention of tourists who come to the islands for other reasons than its Geology.

The Lanzarote and Chinijo Islands UNESCO Global Geopark hosts one of the most extensive and diverse volcanic anchialine ecosystems in the world, consisting of water bodies with marine origin that penetrated inland through coastal crevicular systems. Marine infiltration is facilitated by the low rainfall and the permeability of the coastal terrains. Best known for Túnel de la Atlántida, Lanzarote has other types of anchialine habitats, such as pools, lakes, and even hand-made wells, all of them interconnected with the crevicular system. So far, 39 endemic stygobitic species of crustacean, annelids, and platyhelminthes have been described in the island. Some of them belong to lineages previously interpreted as Tethyan vicariant relicts because they belong in ancient groups restricted to caves situated in areas along the coastline of the ancient Tethys Sea, such as Mexico, Bahamas or Western Australia. Others, instead, have clear affinities with deep-sea lineages, suggesting that their ancestors might have dispersed into the island from surrounding deep-sea environments. In overall, while the anchialine habitats of Lanzarote are relatively small in comparison to other regions, the presence of so many species with such a diverse origin have puzzled zoologists and biogeographers throughout the 20th century, who have regarded the island as a model to understand the origin and evolution of similar groups in other areas of the world. The anchialine habitats in Lanzarote are subject to intense recreational use and the island itself is a major touristic destination. However, geologist and biologist working in the local government offices, as well as in UNESCO Global Geopark and Biosphere Reserve Institutions have started close collaborations with the touristic centers and independent scientist from several universities and research centers around the world with the goal of implementing novel conservation policies based on the results of state-of-art research. This strategy will ensure not only a better understanding of the anchialine ecosystems in the island in the near future, but also its long-term preservation.

The volcanic island of Lanzarote hosts an impressive variety of cavities formed by different volcanic processes. The presence of well preserved lava fields belonging to historic eruptions and more ancient and weathered quaternary and pliocene terrains and the association with an arid climate provide the unique opportunity of studying volcanic caves at different stages of evolution on the same volcanic island. The different mechanisms of lava tube emplacement can be observed in great detail, from the most recent pyroducts of different sizes formed during the Timanfaya eruption (1730–1736) to the exceptionally voluminous conduits of the Corona volcano, formed during the Last Glacial Maximum and partially submerged by the sea level upraise during the Holocene. In addition, other type of cavities, like explosive and geyser vents, “hornitos” and sinkholes in pyroclastic deposits offer the opportunity to extend the study to other important volcano-speleogenetic processes in different settings. All these cavities are easily accessible and present a variety of morphological, mineralogical, biological and microbiological significances, allowing for a wide range of multidisciplinary studies. The countless analogies with lava tube collapses and other potential volcanic cave features detected on the Moon and Mars also provide an unprecedented research ground that offers hints to solve some open issues in the interpretation of still unresolved planetary cavities. These characteristics make the Lanzarote and Chinijo Islands UNESCO Global Geopark an exceptional case where the protection and scientific outreach has been extended to the volcanic subsurface. In this chapter we offer a review of the current knowledge and existing scientific studies on the volcanic caves of Lanzarote and we discuss future researches and protection issues that need to be addressed in order to fully include this geoheritage in strategic plans of environmental protection.

This chapter analyses the planetary and astrobiological significance of the Lanzarote and Chinijo Islands UNESCO Global Geopark. The peculiarities and volcanic relevance Lanzarote has, along with its excellent preservation, have turned it into a place that is exceptionally similar to Mars (and similar to the Moon in some aspects too). The main points in common between Lanzarote and ancient Mars are included herein (mainly a connection between volcanism and water) and the principal features are outlined from this viewpoint, taking into account that the activities developed can be used as a model for other geoparks globally.

In general, the geological aspects of a territory, despite being a determining factor in its own physical constitution, are perceived far from the human reality, distant from historical events that have occurred. This makes sense for territories whose physical support was formed dozens, hundreds of thousands or millions of years ago and whose transformations have undergone a slow process in temporary terms, especially when erosive agents are involved, as a result of various factors, chemical, mechanical, climatic, etc. In those cases, the geology is there, more or less perceptible, but it is however quite alien to us. Another case is that of territories where geological formations, more or less ancient, have been related to important human factors. In those cases, the geological singularities that result from human interaction with them in order to survive, lead to cultural features. In some cases, these factors can have an important historical dimension. We mean, among many other things, the formation of more or less productive soils or wastelands, areas with greater or lesser hydric capacities, the formation of plains or mountain ranges, the greater or lesser exposure to natural disasters (volcanoes, floods, landslides, …), the possibilities for a permanent habitat (tufa or calcareous formations, easy to build caves), or displacements (unevenness, hydrological basins, …). In these circumstances, these geological singularities are due more to their relationship with human development, mainly seen as resources, than their own physical constitution. This fact has led to much of what we understand by culture not only material (agricultural landscapes, habitat, infrastructure, works of art, crafts, …), but also immaterial, linked to the set of beliefs and collective imagination (the affection to a landscape, the coexistence with volcanoes, the sacralisation of mountains, etc.). The enormous wealth and diversity that geology provides the planet with, contributes to a great extent to the enormous richness and variability of cultures. It is true that other factors are equal or more determinant when it comes to the formation of cultures, socio-economic, political or ideological aspects, but these areas are also exposed to those resources, where the geological peculiarities are hidden (mines, strategic places, fertile soils, are usually behind empires, wars or happiness). Nowadays, the revaluation of geology, the socialisation of knowledge that until a few decades ago interested merely solitary characters carrying a hammer, travelling to unusual places, has also turned geology into a not only cultural, but also economic resource. But let’s talk about some much more explicit cases, about the important role that geology can play in culture and even in historical processes, as an example that is very close to home. We’re talking about the island of Lanzarote and how a geological event, a significant volcanic eruption can, not only, profoundly transform its physical reality, but also its historical and cultural reality (De León Hernández in Lanzarote bajo el Volcán. Los pueblos y el patrimonio edificado sepultados por las erupciones del siglo XVIII. Servicio de Publicaciones Cabildo de Lanzarote. Serie Casa de los Volcanes, Las Palmas, 2008). This can still be seen nowadays in the collective religiosity of the island which revolves around Virgen de los Volcanoes, which replaced the founding saint after the conquest, San Marcial, talks about the relevance that an important geological short-time phenomenon has had on this island. Not only was much of the island buried by lava and ash from the eruptions of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (Rumeu and Araña 1982), but also another important part of it was buried by flying sands at different times in history. Between the late 18th Century and first quarter of the 19th, it covered villages, agricultural land and infrastructures shaping a new landscape that, just like areas covered by volcanic sand, is cleverly reused (De León Hernández and Robayna Fernández in El Jable, poblamiento y aprovechamiento en el mundo de los antiguos mahos de Lanzarote y Fuerteventura. III Jornadas de Historia de Lanzarote y Fuerteventura, Tomo II. Puerto del Rosario, pp 11–107, 1989). Hence how we understand that such circumstances and their consequences on the population, could lead to differentiated and unique types of culture. These new territories, would contribute to generate what we call volcano culture and Jable culture. But in the case of Lanzarote, the emergence of these new territories, not only make up new ecosystems and new cultural patterns, but those changes also had an important historical footprint, in just a few decades. The volcanic eruptions change the social, demographic, economic and political reorganisation of the island, with the emergence of new productive zones, new agricultural systems, new populations and parishes that led to the current political administrative organisation and the development of a new local bourgeoisie, closely linked to the benefits derived from the volcano, especially with the exploitation of the Geria area. But, in addition, the Jable invasions at the beginning of the 19th Century, are also connected to the process of usurpation of lands on the Famara coast, by the new economic sector linked to the barrel and the brandy industry, that strives, at the same time, to be the Capital, finally leading to Arrecife, at the expense of Villa de Teguise (Quintana and De León 2004). The latter case of Jable, seems to have predicted the current situation we are living, how human action can also generate important geological changes, or even climatic, in the short term, with highly significant historical long-term consequences. We can therefore see how, for an island like Lanzarote, geology, culture and history are not that different, they are in fact essential factors to rebuild the past and present of this island. We will now briefly explain the impact volcanic eruptions of the eighteenth century had on the future of Lanzarote, taking a deeper look at the physical and cultural reality that the lavas and ashes covered and at the same time providing information, unknown to date, not only about the people and the land that disappeared, but also the geological reality that was also erased from the map and from people’s memories.

Between 1960 and 1976, during the first stage of the development of mass tourism in Spain, the island of Lanzarote experienced the creation of a network of publicly owned spaces in which natural and cultural values intrinsic to the environment were combined, with artistic interventions in various disciplines: architecture, sculpture, design, interior design and landscaping, among others, the Art, Culture and Tourism Centres (CACT). The primary purpose of these centres was to encourage the arrival of visitors from the new tourism industry and thus improve the difficult socio-economic conditions of the population. It was an initiative whose aesthetic leadership was assumed by artist César Manrique, while the political, labour and budget agenda corresponded to the Cabildo of Lanzarote, the main local public institution on the island. In this research, we briefly browse the guidelines of the artistic work of Manrique, already studied greatly through the history of art, to focus on the objectives and dimensions that this programme had from the perspective of public administration and as a pioneering experiment in the combination of tourism, public art and geography. Likewise, some of its social and economic consequences and in the minds of residents and visitors of the island are mentioned.