The facilities of the Marina Lanzarote marina have hosted the photographic and informative exhibition "Submarine treasures of geological interest: a walk through the surprising submerged landscape of the Geopark" since Wednesday, June 29. An exhibition organized by the Cabildo of Lanzarote, through the Geopark Lanzarote and Chinijo Archipelago area, which is the result of a project that began last year to monitor the status of the Submarine Sites of Geological Interest (LIG).
The exhibition was inaugurated by the councilors of the first island corporation Jorge Peñas and Rosa Mary Callero, who apologized for the absence of the president of the Cabildo, Maria Dolores Corujo, and the councilor responsible for the Geopark area, Elena Solís, who could not attend the event. Also present were the coordinator of Geopark Lanzarote and Chinijo Archipelago, Elena Mateo, the director of the project and curator of the exhibition, Javier Alonso, and the other two photographers who participated in the initiative, Rafael Mesa and Jesus Javier Medinaveitia.
“This exhibition proposes a walk through the surprising submerged landscape of the Geopark of Lanzarote and the Chinijo Archipelago. A landscape that is hidden from the view of the vast majority of the population, but that needs to be made known to learn to value and care for it”, explained the councilor Rosa Mary Callero,
"What is not known cannot be protected or loved. That is why the work that Geopark does to disseminate, to expose all our heritage, not only biological, of our fauna, which is very rich, but also of the geological and volcanic peculiarities that we can find not only on the surface, but in our seabeds”, said Jorge Peñas.
As explained, the exhibition “Submarine treasures of geological interest: a walk through the surprising submerged landscape of the Geopark” is the result of a project that began in 2021 with the aim of monitoring the state of conservation of the Submarine Sites of Geological Interest (LIG) included in the inventory carried out through an agreement signed between the Cabildo of Lanzarote and the Geological and Mining Institute of Spain (IGME).
The Cabildo points out that this activity consisted of "collecting photographic images and underwater recordings and completing a series of files of the chosen locations." “And we thought it would be interesting to expand it to an exhibition and that the videos that were made could be seen by Lanzarote, so that we could value everything we have and that few know about”, explained Javier Alonso, head of the project who, together with the other two underwater photographers who have participated in it, recounted the “difficulties” they encountered in order to carry it out due to weather conditions.
More than 30 canvases with images, texts and maps
The exhibition consists of 32 canvases with underwater images, texts and location maps, which run through the seabed of the Unesco World Geopark Lanzarote and Chinijo Archipelago.
The images have been taken in the following Sites of Geological Interest (LIG): submerged fluvial erosive morphologies of Puerto Viejo, Pleistocene lava delta of Costa Teguise, coastal erosive morphologies in the lava delta of Puerto del Carmen, Holocene coastal cave of Jameo de Guatiza, Holocene lava delta of Charco del Palo, Mio-Pliocene dikes of the Costa del Rubicón, Quaternary submarine erosive tunnel of Roque del Este, Quaternary sandbars of El Río-El Río de Montaña Clara, Pleistocene dikes of Las Gerardias, sandy bottoms of the sebadales of Arrieta and Punta Mujeres, and Pleistocene lava delta of the Marina de Arrecife.
“Fortunately, the state of conservation of these LIG is good, but this exhibition reminds us of the enormous fragility of the marine environment”, indicated the councilor Rosa Mary Callero, who highlighted "the importance of raising awareness and having more respectful attitudes towards the sea and its natural resources”.
After the inauguration of the exhibition and a tour of it by the project managers, this Wednesday also premiered and screened the documentary “Our submarine geology”, made with the sequences filmed during the months that the project lasted, touring the bottoms of Lanzarote, La Graciosa, Montaña Clara, Alegranza and Roque del Este.
The exhibition “Submarine treasures of geological interest: a walk through the surprising submerged landscape of the Geopark’ will remain in Marina Lanzarote until July 27, to then begin a traveling tour of various municipalities on the island.
