Landscapes of salt, sand and wind

Punta Entinas-Sabinar could be considered a “time capsule” where a coastal ecosystem has been preserved with little transformation.

The sea, the salt and the wind have forged the shapes of Punta Entinas-Sabinar with dunes, wetlands, beaches, old dry farming remains and the unique landscape of Los Alcores, all of which form the rich ecosystem of Punta Entinas-Sabinar. Hundreds of animal and plant species find rest, refuge and food here.

For all these reasons, the Punta Entinas-Sabinar Nature Reserve has been declared a SCI (Site of Community Interest), SPA (Special Protection Area for Birds), SAC (Special Area of Conservation) and is part of the European Ecological Network Natura 2000.

The origin of all

Geological movements, coastal dynamics and hydrology are the keys to understanding the landscape of Punta Entinas-Sabinar. Fire, wind and water.

Ten million years ago, the sea covered everything except the Almeria mountain ranges, including the Sierra de Gádor. Eight million years later, the sea retreated to its current position, leaving the extensive coastal plain that we know as Campo de Dalías, leaving behind it stepped marine terraces and small inlets. Then came the westerly wind, which carried the sand from the beach inland, forming the line of dunes that we know today.

And behind this line of dunes, there remained a mantle of clays, salts and abundant organic matter which, millennia later, served man as salt flats and nature as a refuge.

Evidence of the passage of time

In the Campo de Dalías, from the coast to the Sierra de Gádor, we find up to 27 marine terraces of that ancient sea.

Los Alcores, formed by limestone materials, crushed shells and a great variety of fossils, are a system of faults that superficially isolated Punta Entinas hydraulically.

The permanent wetlands, and with the influence of fresh water, indicate the importance that the aquifer systems have in the area.