Detail of white oolitic fossil dune - Foto stock

Detail of white oolitic fossil dune eroded by the sea on the beach of Arco in Los Escullos.On this beach the best outcrop of white oolitic fossil dunes of the Natural Park of Cabo de Gata coastline is observed.These dune systems indicate the position of the shoreline at the time of its formation and also ecological and environmental conditions.The oolitic dunes were generated due to the mobilization of sediment by wind old oolitic beaches, formed in a warmer than the current environment. This is recognized by the existence of very warm seas associated fauna (Strombus bubonius) and oolites own. It is observed microscopically that oolites consist of a core of quartz grains or fragments of rock or fecal pellets and a shell having several concentric layers of aragonite. Oolites are currently in the subtidal area, a few meters deep, warm waters fund saturated carbonate and very agitated by the waves.Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park in the south-eastern corner of Spain, is Andalucia's largest coastal protected area, a wild and isolated landscape with some of Europe's most original geological features. It is the only region in Europe with a warm desert climate.