Master Index    Nearest Caches Punta Umbria - Los Enebrales - DP/EC21 by Daniel Oliveira (1/1) N37° 11.105  W6° 59.048 (WGS84) UTM  29S   E 678938  N 4117308 Use waypoint: GC1E2X7 Size: Not chosen    Hidden on 11-7-2008 In Andalucía, Spain Difficulty:     Terrain:

Punta Umbria – Los Enebrales
N 37º 11.105 W 6º 59.048

Setting:
Punta Umbría is shouldered by an area covering 162 hectares of protected beach, sand dunes and woods, including a juniper grove, one of the few examples of this type in Andalucía. The 50-m wide beach, with fine, golden sand, stretches for 2.3km.
The Playa (beach) de los Enebrales is bordered by a double front of sand dunes. The most recent dunes run parallel to the sea and are locally termed “embryonic dunes”, while the more established ones are colonized by a grove of the eponymous enebros (juniper) trees. Junipers are relatively rare along the Andalucian coastline. Alongside these grow stone pines, black pines, broom, thyme, rosemary and wildflowers.
The woodland is rich in fauna, with a variety of small mammals and reptiles. Examples of birds here are azure-winged magpies, nightjars, goldfinches, curlews, hoopoes and cuckoos.

The dune system:
The dune system is made up of four (4) main components or sectors.

1. Embryonic dunes – These are shifting sands with a little amount of vegetation. It is highly sensitive to human traffic and degrades very rapidly.
2. Secondary dunes – This presents a larger amount of vegetation and also a larger amount of species diversity. The major destruction is caused by motorized vehicles.
3. Juniper zone – Under tremendous pressure by the constantly developing and sprawling urban development. It is here that species such as chameleons are common.
4. Pine land – Trees of larger stature are common as are the greater variety of bird species mentioned above.

Urban sprawl and the rehabilitation:
Punta Umbria is developing into the very characteristic sea-side resort that is so characteristic along the Andaluzian coast. The area is seeing the development of large hotel complexes that are vying for prime location so their guest do not have to walk long distances to the beach. This threat/pressure is impacting directly on the beautiful dune system precariously balancing between ocean and sea-side resorts.

The government, through the Ministry of the Environment, has detected this threat and is actively taking steps to rehabilitate the dune system back to its former glory.
One positive way in which is doing this is to provide clear, concise information along the dune system of the efforts being carried out during the rehabilitation as well as provide information on the dune system itself: the various sectors, fauna and flora.
The second positive way in which it is fighting the impact of human traffic along the dunes is to constrain pedestrian traffic to “senderos” or boardwalks. These senderos are all clearly identified with a unique name and tell the user how long they are and the average time it should take someone to cross it. The senderos often have information on the local floral species.

Earthcaching in Los Enebrales:
This earthcache will take you to a set of coordinates in the sector of the Embryonic Dune Field sector. Because this is by far the most sensitive point of the dune system, sand retainers that prevent the sand from blowing away have been planted at this location in rows parallel to the sea.  In order to claim this earthcache e-mail me with the answer to the following question: How nay rows of sand retainers are planted at this location and what do they look like? I will get back to you with permission to log the cache.
This cache in no way places any one on the dunes and makes no one leave the senderos. You can answer the simple question by walking along the sendero.

A cache:

No local das coordenadas, que se situam no sector das dunas embrionárias, foram plantados filas de plantas que actuam como inibidores do movimento da areia evitando que seja transportada para longe. Para poderes logar esta earthcache manda-me um mail com a resposta à seguinte pergunta: Quantas filas destas plantas é que foram plantadas no local? e descreve a sua morfologia também. Assim que possível, eu enviarei autorização para logar ou não a cache. Obrigado e boa praia.

(Kindly translated by Juan Y Maribel - Thank you)
Punta Umbría esta flanqueada por un área protegida de 162 hectáreas de playa dunas y bosques, incluido su enebral, uno de los pocos ecosistemas de este tipo que aún quedan en Andalucía. La playa de 50m de ancho de dorada y fina arena, se extiende a lo largo de 2.3 km.
La playa de los Enebrales está flanqueada por un frente doble de dunas. Las dunas mas jóvenes corren paralelas a la linea de costa y son conocidas como “dunas embrionarias”, mientras que las mas maduras son colonizadas por un matorral de enebros conocido como enebral. El enebro es relativamente raro a lo largo de la costa andaluza.
Tas estos crecen el pino piñonero el pino negro, retama, tomillo, romero y flores silvestres.
El bosque es rico en fauna con gran variedad de pequeños mamíferos y reptiles. Ejemplo de las aves que podemos encontrar son la urraca azul,(nigthjars),jilguero,zarapito la abubilla y el cuco.

El sistema dunar: El sistema dunar esta formado por cuatro componentes principales o sectores.

1. Dunas embrionarias - Son arenas móviles con algo de vegetación. Son muy sensibles al trafico humano y se degradan rápidamente.

2. Dunas secundarias – Presentan un gran acumulo de vegetación ademas de una alta biodiversidad. La mayor destrucción de estas es causada por el paso de vehículos motorizados.

3. Enebral y ó Sabinal – Soporta una presión tremenda debida a la constante y exesiva presión urbanística. Es aquí donde especies como el camaleón son frecuentes.

4. Pinar – Arboles de gran estatura y gran diversidad de avifauna, como mencionábamos arriba conforman este sector.

Earthcaching en Los Enebrales: (Kindly translated by J. Rover - Thank you)
Este earthcache le sitúa en el sector de dunas embrionarias del campo. Porque éste es en gran medida el punto más sensible del sistema de la duna, los detenedores de la arena que evitan que ésta sople lejos se han plantado en esta localización en filas paralelas al mar. Para demandar este earthcache envíeme un E-mail con la respuesta a la pregunta siguiente: ¿Cuántas filas de de detenedores de arena se han plantan en esta localización y a qué se parecen? Yo le contestaré con el permiso de registrar el cache.
Para realizar este cache no es necesario entrar de ningún modo en las dunas y ni salir de las marcas. Usted puede contestar a la pregunta simplemente caminando a lo largo del sendero.

The most exciting way to learn about the Earth and its processes is to get into the outdoors and experience it first-hand. Visiting an Earthcache is a great outdoor activity the whole family can enjoy. An Earthcache is a special place that people can visit to learn about a unique geoscience feature or aspect of our Earth. Earthcaches include a set of educational notes and the details about where to find the location (latitude and longitude). Visitors to Earthcaches can see how our planet has been shaped by geological processes, how we manage the resources and how scientists gather evidence to learn about the Earth. To find out more click HERE.

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