Reflecting on the Rio Tinto

This surreal landscape can be found in Andalusia, in south-west Spain, where high levels of iron and sulphur have turned this acidic river red. The Rio Tinto (Red River) may owe its chemical composition to 5,000-years or more of mining in the area. Ancient residents from the Tartessians, who lived in the area from around the 10th century BCE, and the Romans, dug for copper, silver and gold here - as well as the mineral pyrite, commonly referred to as 'fool's gold’. Legend has it that Rio Tinto was the site of the fabled mines of King Solomon.
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