The volcanic eruption caused major disruption to air travel across western Europe and provided us with a timely reminder that it is Mother Earth who ultimately runs things on this planet. We have become perhaps too comfortable with our dominance of resources and our overcoming of distances. However, the hard-to-pronounce volcano in Iceland has helped to open our eyes to the limits of our control.
Talking about lava and ash, we must not forget that Catalonia is also a land of volcanoes to be found in the counties of La Selva and La Garrotxa. The La Garrotxa nature park is dotted with old volcanoes, such as the Croscat in the photo.
Unlike those in Iceland, our volcanoes are no cause for concern. The Croscat’s most recent eruptions were well over 10,000 years ago. However, it seems as if they were huge eruptions and the Catalan Flintstones of that time will have seen lava extending for 20 km. Perhaps, it is better to let Catalonia’s volcanoes rest in peace.
On the other hand, there are enough smart people out there to beg the question as to why there is not more interest and respect shown for the Catalan volcanoes.
In the crater of the Santa Margarida volcano, a chapel was even built some centuries ago. And, as the picture shows, the Croscat volcano even had a slice taken out of it to show what it looks like on the inside! Fortunately, Mother Earth did not take offence and appears to have finished with our volcanoes. However, that does not mean that we should also forget about them.
