Béznar: Earthquake

Waking up to the house and bed shaking was disconcerting, but it turned out to be only one of the hundreds of small quakes that regularly occur in Andalucia. Its epicenter was nearby though, in Jayena, only about 10 miles from here (16 km). Coincidentally, just yesterday I was admiring the prominent geological scar visible above Dúrcal. This tectonic fracture, created by the uplift of the Sierra Nevada, has shifted rocks by over 1000 meters, leaving visible striations. We walked up to it in 2018, but I hadn’t expected to see it on this trip, especially not on the day before a fault- related event!

Clouds kept the temperature down today, so we had a nice cool walk past the village lavadero, through old orchards, and up to Cerro Redondo. Along the way, we spotted a smaller version of the magnificent pine tree that we saw shading Cortijo Albercón two weeks ago. I think of that majestic tree every time we are out walking, and have rued the fact that we weren’t able to identify it. At the time, neither PlantSnap nor the “i” in Photos was able to definitively name its species. But today when we reached the similar tree only to find that it also was shading a cortijo from the southern sun, a bell went off in my head. I asked Google if there was a particular sort of pine tree that was commonly planted in front of cortijos in Andalucia, and in seconds it told me that stone pines were frequently used. Sure enough, looking up the scientific name, pinus pinea, turned up multiple photos that resembled the two trees we’ve seen. Mystery solved.

New things to investigate cropped up during our walk, however. In particular, we wondered why the trees in one fairly large avocado grove were pruned back to no leaves and completely covered with whitewash. We’ve read that the whitewash is used to disinfect trees, but we usually see it used on only a portion of the trunk.

One more unusual sight was an entire grove of olive trees, where every single one of the old trees was cut off right at ground level and a new trunk was sprouting from the old. We’ve frequently seen large old trees cut back to make the height easier for picking and because it helps the tree produce more olives, but this was a radical cutting compared to others that we’ve seen.

So…two new mysteries to ponder. (Added to the long-standing question of why some grape vineyards are trellised and others are free-standing, like bushes. I bet AI has answers.)

Yup. I should have looked all this up before I wrote today’s entry. In short:
1. A solution of 50% white latex paint, 50 % water protects the thin bark of young avocados from sunburn and disease.
2. Complete cutting back to the stump allows regeneration of worn-out olive trees with a poor ratio of leaves to wood.
3. Stump planting of grapes produces more flavor; trellised vines are easier for mechanization and for exposing the fruit to sunlight.Read more