In ancient times
this basin was a great lake…
In the past this
area was occupied by a great lake from which protruded
some islands. Nowadays these form the steep-sided mountains of grey-blue rock
and flat peaks (see the example in the above photo of the village of Tona). This type of
easily fragmented grey-blue rock is typical of the region. It was formed over thousands of years as
sediment deposited in the lake caused pressure, compacting deeper
sediment. The slopes of these
mountains were once the shores of the islands, and on
many of them grew a great quantity of molluscs and other aquatic invertebrates.
Today we can still find the fossilized remains of their shells and bone
structures which provide evidence of the region’s origins as a lake.



Its origin and shape
determine its climate and vegetation …
The concave shape
made up by the central plain with the surrounding mountains, shape due to its lacustrine origin, determine a
very charisteristic phenomenon of the area, the reversed temperature gradient, which is
very evident at the autumnal and winter stations. The cold air proceeding from
the Pyrenees tends to descend
and to remain suspended in the central zones of the valley due to the fact that
it is denser than the hot one, which, in turn, ascends to higher areas. So, the
temperature in the central artea tends to be lower
than the higher surrounding areas. A good indicator of the climatic average
conditions is the type of vegetation.
So, in the central part of Vic's Plain, due to the fact that temperature
is colder and humidity is higher than in the surrounding mountains, the
vegetation is the typical one of relatively high mountainous areas, and is
plentiful of forests of oaks and other deciduous trees together with scots pine. If we ascend for the surrounding mountains, we meet Mediterranean
plants, which are characteristic of lower and hot zones, forests of holm oaks and white pine.
The socio-economic
development of the Vic Valley is
conditioned by its geological and climatic characteristics
Its
sedimentary origin made this area very fertile and suitable for cereal and
potato harvest. This gave rise to
the development of pig farms and consequently the development of meat industry,
mainly sausage production. Vic was converted then into an important place of comercial
exchange.

On the
other hand, the sedimentary characteristics give rise to underground flow
waters rich in singular salts (iodine, lithium, sulphur,…).
The medicinal properties of these waters lead to the building of natural spa centers mainly in the village of Tona during the 20th
century (here you can see the Codina Spa founded in
1913).

As a
result, the village became an attractive place for summer stays and many people
spend their holiday there. Now, some of the people that used to come from Barcelona and
other cities to Tona and other places of the Vic Valley for
holidays have decided to move permanently to this rural
places.


LINKS:
http://www.osona.com/index.htm
http://www.portesdelmontseny.com/