Guamuhaya Massif, possible next Geopark in Cuba

HAVANA, Cuba, May 14 (ACN) The Central Geomining Company is preparing the dossier for the proposal of the Guamuhaya Massif to be the next Geopark of Cuba, announced an expert from the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MINEM).

The territory is managed by the cetral provinces of provinces of Villa Clara, Cienfuegos and Sancti Spiritus and its evaluation includes places of great biological, historical and tourist significance such as the Topes de Collantes Protected Natural Landscape, said Enrique Castellanos Abella, PhD in Technical Sciences, director of Geology of that agency, in an exclusive interview with the Cuban News Agency.

He pointed out that it also has metamorphic rocks, whose grains constitute a mosaic of somewhat equidimensional minerals that are the result of contact or regional metamorphism, due to the effects of temperature increase in them.

Castellanos Abella estimated that in early 2025 the geological-geomorphological study of the Guamuhaya Massif should be concluded in order to evaluate it as the next Geopark of Cuba.

The Guamuhaya Mountains are home to the Lomas de Banao Ecological Reserve, Hanabanilla Lake, El Nicho and the national monuments Caballete de Casa and Caverna Martin, and Pico Tuerto, with its 919 meters above sea level, is the highest point of the Villa Clara relief, which is part of the Hanabanilla Protected Natural Landscape, according to specialists in the sector.

With similar purposes, the expert also said that the Camagüey Geominera Company is examining the geological-geomorphological documentation of the Sierra de Cubitas, in the north of that province and with an area of 822 square kilometers, with a view to its valuation as a geopark.

That portion of Cuba is a mountain range in the form of an elongated strip, located in the north-northeast of the provincial capital city, with a 309-meter maximum height at the elevation of Loma el Mirador de Limones.

It shows the development of the karst with multiple speleothems, where, almost all types of speleothems or mineral deposits formed in caves abound and so far more than seven geosites have been identified.