Research essay about the Cave of Aracena by Reyes Rodríguez

1. The Maravillas Cave

2. Introduction
The Maravillas Cave is located in Aracena
(Huelva) in the south of Spain.

3. Geological Characteristics

4. The geological history of the area of the
Maravillas Cave began more than 550
millions.There are at least three levels of galleries.
In the lowest one, we can find some of the lakes.

5. The geological history of the area of the
Maravillas Cave began more than 550 millions
years ago, when some of the oldest rocks were
formed in the nearby mountain, now called Sierra
de Aracena. The special characteristic of these
carbonate-based rocks is that they dissolve very
slowly when they are in contact with water. This
process called 'Karstification' is responsible for
forming the characteristic landscape of the
Maravillas Cave. This cavity has a predominantly
horizontal lenght of 2.130 metres. There are at
least three levels of galleries. In the lowest one
we can find some of the lakes.

6. Second and third level

7. The second level of galleries has an extraordinary
abundance of formations from very diverse origins
such as the existence of impurities of copper and iron,
wich gives a wide range of colours to the shapes.One
of the main characteristic of this cave are the Stalactite
(a formation which starts on the ceiling and grows
downwards) and Stalagmite ( which grows from the
ground upwards).
In the third level there are a great number of variety of
speleothems and some remarkable gours of different
sizes. At the end of this gallery, you can see the
petrified remains of some plant roots.

8. Analysis of the economical impact of
the cave

9. It was opened for the first time in 1914,so next
year it will be its centenary.
Since its aperture it has been managed by the
City Council. A significant number of
employments have been created taking
advantage of the tourism developed because of
the caves.
The incomings come from the sale of the tickets
with an average of 150.000 visitors per year. Part
of these incomings goes to the
advertising,maintenance and the development of
the area where the caves are located in.

10. Examples of businesses developed
within the frame of the caves

11. There are four types of business that have grown
around the caves, restaurants, hotels, pork on the
street shops and souvenir shops.
These shops and restaurants offer typical
foodstuffs from this area.
There are other shops that offer souvenirs from
the cave,such as postcards, t-shirts, magnets etc
There are more than four hotels in the area.
As the cave is open seven days a week, tourists
are always welcome and weekends are specially
busy in the area of the cave, where sometimes we
can also enjoy some flee markets.

12. In my humble opinion, I would like to remark that
the cave it is not just a great economical source
for our town, it also provides a huge cultural
impact. A good example of that is the open-air
museum, where visitors can enjoy a huge range
of different sculpture expresions of contemporary
spanish artists.