Garrotxa Volcanic Zone Natural Park

Garrotxa Volcanic Zone Natural Park
Parc Natural de la Zona Volcànica de la Garrotxa (Catalan)
IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)
An aerial view of Santa Margarida.
Location	Garrotxa, Catalonia, Spain
Coordinates	42°10′0″N 2°32′0″E / 42.16667°N 2.53333°E / 42.16667; 2.53333Coordinates: 42°10′0″N 2°32′0″E / 42.16667°N 2.53333°E / 42.16667; 2.53333
Area	15,309 hectares (153.09 km2)
Established	1982 (1982)
Governing body	Departament de Medi Ambient i Habitatge
http://www.gencat.cat/parcs/garrotxa/

The Garrotxa Volcanic Zone Natural Park (Catalan: Parc Natural de la Zona Volcànica de la Garrotxa) is a natural park area covering a Holocene volcanic field (also known as the Olot volcanic field) in Catalonia, northeastern Spain. The volcanos, of which there are about forty within the park, are no longer active, with the last eruption (Croscat) occurring about 11,000 years ago. However, the region is still seismically active, and a large earthquake in 1428 caused damage to buildings and twenty deaths in Barcelona, 90 kilometres (56 mi) to the south.

The park covers 12,093.02 hectares, and includes territory from eleven municipalities in the comarca of Garrotxa. The built-up areas of Olot, Santa Pau, Sant Joan les Fonts and Castellfollit de la Roca are completely surrounded by the park. Including these urban areas, the population of the park is more than 40,000 people, and the economic development of the zone is one of the objectives of the park management, while trying to avoid the damage caused by quarrying, urban sprawl and illegal waste disposal. Some 980.86 ha of the park, including the best preserved volcanic cones, are fully protected as nature reserves.

The Garrotxa field is a monogenetic volcanic field, with each volcano representing a single period of eruption. The field became active about 700,000 years ago, and is the most recent expression of volcanic activity in northeastern Catalonia, which dates back 10 million years.