Saladar del Margen

To the North of Baza you will find this little-known place that is so peculiar and characteristic: the Saladar del arroyo salado ('salar') belonging to the town of El Margen. It is an extensive ephemeral wetland stretching across 75 hectares towards the municipalities ofGalera and Benamaurel and the salt marshes of Baza. It is included in the Andalusian Wetlands Catalogue due to the uniqueness of its landscapes and ecosystems and because it is home to two endemic species of flora that only live in this habitat. They are locally called Saladilla de Baza and Saladilla de Cúllar, and their scientific names are Limonium minus and Limonium majus.

It is a habitat where the land only floods during the springtime when it rains. In summer and for most of the year it is a great extension of gypsum and salt under which a thin sheet of water is trapped at a very shallow depth, then heated up due to the strength of the sun in this territory. It evaporates and transpires towards the exterior bringing minerals that completely whiten the surface, The salt marsh is an essential part of the geological and natural history of a key territory in the understanding of the evolution and development of the quaternary in southern Europe.