Volcanism & pioneer lichens in Lanzarote
When researching activities to do on holiday, I was particularly excited to find an ancient volcano in walking distance and as my boyfriend an I love hill walking and trekking, we instantly decided we were going to climb it for sure. Standing at 194 m, or ~636 ft tall, the Montaña Roja (Red Mountain), is one of the numerous volcanoes that have shaped the complex geological history of this island, which emerged from the ocean around 15 million years ago during the Miocene and has never been connected to a continental landmass. Between 1730 and 1736, a quarter of the island was covered in a thick layer of lava during its most intense volcanic event, which has left the area still partly active and protected as the Timanfaya National Park, but at an estimated 0.8 million years of age, the Montaña Roja on the southern coast is far older and part of earlier stages of active volcanism.
As we made our way up its eastern slope, all that was in sight was a rocky, barren, almost martian landscape, and only the occasional low shrub and the blue sky above us reminded us we were still on Earth. And then we were on top!
After taking in the view I had a look around and it was quickly apparent the rim of the volcano, the more shaded inner slopes of the crater and its bottom were harbouring more life than I had expected. In particular, lichens were thriving and very abundant, large patches of leafy, yellow-green Ramalina bourgeana were covering the rocks together with the crustose orange Xanthoria. The former, locally known as escán, has historically been used as a tanning agent for leather-making while the latter, like the fruticose Stereocaulon vesuvianum, is an active weathering agent on lava substrate. Many more species of lichens are present on the island, one worth mentioning being Roccella tinctoria, from which a purple dye and a source of income have been derived since ancient times.
Thinking back, I shouldn’t have been so surprised to find some of the organisms best adapted to the extremes of our planet in such a hostile and barely habitable place, it only makes sense.