The Demolitions of Partaloa

Those known as overhangs are a form of hillside collapse that is characteristic of the erosive and sedimentary dynamic in dry areas. As a result of this dynamic, there is a gently sloping plane between the mountain slopes and the lower parts of the valleys, called glacis. These glacis are usually made up of a soft, clear-coloured base and materials (marl, clay, agglomerates), crowned by a hard, oxidised, dark-coloured stratum.

When the hydrographic network affects the glacis plane and is embedded, water erosion drags the soft materials easily, leaving the hanging hard strata until they break and precipitate down the slope of the watercourse. This process can be noted in many places of the province, with many similar scenarios (Rambla de Oria, in Albox, Tabernas desert, El Chorrillo in Pechina). But the formation in Partaloa is so characteristic that in the professional world of geologists and landscapers, this erosive result is generically known as "partaloa".