Region of Murcia: farmland, a salt lagoon, and mines in technicolour
Murcia's huerta: lemons, peppers, and Arab-era channels
The Huerta de Murcia covers some 24,000 irrigated hectares fed by the River Segura and the Tagus-Segura transfer (operational since 1979, 600 hm³ authorised annual capacity). Murcia is Europe's top lemon producer (600,000 tonnes per year), and the PDO Pimentón de Murcia protects sun-dried ñora peppers from Totana, Alhama, and Librilla — the base for preserved foods and for zarangollo, a daily scramble of courgette, onion, and egg that is a huerta staple.
Mar Menor: Europe's largest saltwater lagoon
The Mar Menor is a 135 km² coastal lagoon separated from the Mediterranean by La Manga, a sand bar 22 km long and between 100 and 1,200 metres wide. Its salinity (42–47 g/l, higher than the open sea) and shallow depth (7 m maximum) make its water 2–5 °C warmer than the Mediterranean. Since 2016, the lagoon has suffered eutrophication episodes (green soup) linked to nitrate runoff from the Campo de Cartagena, with mass wildlife die-offs recorded in 2019 and 2021.
Cartagena-La Unión mining range: industrial landscape
The mining range between Cartagena and La Unión was worked from Phoenician times (7th century BC) until 1991. The open pit at La Unión left a flooded quarry — now called the "red lagoon" — stained by iron, lead, and zinc oxides. The International Festival of Cante de las Minas (since 1961) is held inside La Unión's former public market, a 1907 Modernista building converted into an auditorium. In Mazarrón, mine tailings ponds colour the landscape yellow, red, and grey — a palette that natural erosion and mineralisation will keep reshaping for decades.