Villuercas Geopark

The Villuercas Ibores Jara UNESCO Global Geopark is located in the south-east of the province of Cáceres (in Extremadura, Spain).

The beauty of this unique landform is characterized by structurally-controlled morphological features responsible for the intensely folded and fractured landscape. The UNESCO Global Geopark shows an inverted topography with elevated narrow Variscan synclines (residual Appalachian Relief) with Lower Palaeozoic siliciclastic rocks, including the Armorican Quarzite which marks the highest topography.

Forty-four geosites have been cataloged as ridges, hills and mountains, faults, river valleys, places with special geomorphological features such as synclines and anticlines, mines, and paleontological deposits. Paleontological deposits are important to explain the great event in evolution known as the “Biotic Explosion of the Cambrian”, 540 million years ago.