Geology
Monte
León's mineral landscape surprises visitors with
its endless variations: multicolored pebble beaches, gullies
that run through the steppe to the sea, haunting erosion sculpted
dreamscapes like the labyrinthine limestone "pyramids" and caves
at the beach.
Monte León lies between sea level and maximum
heights of 1,000 ft. It is a tableland composed of plateaus
and valleys, with a few hills marking maximum altitudes, most
notably Cerro Monte León and Cerro Observación.
Gullies cut across the tableland following fluvio-glacial tracks
that run west to east. They show sand and clay on the surface,
with conglomerates in the deeper levels.
Monte
León is formed by Cenozoic materials represented
by:
a)
Terraced debris from the higher Pliocenic on the upper levels
of the coastal plateau.
b) Eocenic "Patagonian" material (Monte León formation)
on the coastline.
c) Miocenic (Santa Cruz formation) material on the coastal terraces
and gullies.
(Mapa
geológico de la Provincia de Santa Cruz, Servicio Geológico,
1994).
(National
Park Administration)
