I have previously told you how mountainous Madeira is. There are almost no level grounds. You either go up or down, not much choice in between. There is one location however on the island that is mostly flat, it is the Paula da Serra Plateau. Located in the mid-part of the island and sits about 1500 meters above sea level.
That morning the weather was quite poor in Madeira so we decided to drive up higher and hoped that this Plateau is above the clouds so we can explore it with good weather and sunshine. It was almost the case! We did see some sunshine but we didn't make it exactly over the clouds. If the place was about 100-200 meters higher we would have been above. Well, at least it didn't rain there.
Up on the plateau, you can find many wind turbines because it's the only place on the island where you can build a wind park.
I want to tell you a bit about how a level plateau like this has formed there.
2.5 - 1.8 million years ago the landscape was totally different with hills and valleys that formed over a long period with water erosion. Between 1.8 million and 774 thousand years ago multiple volcanos started erupting. These volcanoes emitted huge volumes of basaltic lava which over a period of time covered most of the old landscape of this area, making it almost smooth.
During the last glacial period between 115-11.7 thousand years ago, this particular zone accumulated snow due to constant low temperatures. Over time the snow turned to ice by compression and, during the last glacial maximum, about 25 thousand years ago, a plateau glacier was formed. Gravity and meltwater caused the ice to move. Slowly outwards and down the mountain, shaping the surrounding landscape even more.
11.700 thousand years ago until the present day, it has been a warming period. The ice field started to recede and ultimately disappeared completely, exposing the landforms of glacial origin. This is what you see there today. The current water movements are causing headward erosion. This is a work in progress but slowly the water erosion will destroy the current flat landscapes and carve new valleys. Quite fascinating how nature works, is it?
Near the sea level, the temperature was about 24 degrees C. Up on the plateau, the temperature was 13 to 14C degrees due to altitude.
We wanted to hike one short trail there which would lead us to an amazing viewpoint where you are able to see this crazy view down the plateau to the sea level and ocean. Unfortunately, we noticed that the whole place was inside a cloud so we wouldn't be able to see absolutely anything, we decided to cancel the hike.
Took these two photos of the local flora.
Paula da Serra Plateau truly was a change of scenery on this island. I enjoyed visiting this place and learning about the formation of these landscapes. I have always been interested in geology.
