Broken Nature


  • Photographer
    Frank lynch
  • Prize
    Honorable Mention
  • Date of Photograph
    May 2015
  • Technical Info
    Nikon D800 / 24-70mm

The Tintillo River in Andalusia, Spain is red in colour due to intense mining activity. It’s waters are highly acidic as a result of pollution from heavy metals such as iron, copper and sulphur dioxide emissions.

Story

The Tintillo River in Andalusia, Spain is red in colour due to the intense mining activity in the region. It’s waters are highly acidic as a result of pollution from heavy metals such as iron and copper as well as sulphur dioxide emissions.
The Tintillo river is an example of how brutal a natural landscape can be destroyed and broken by the environmental impact of intensive metal mining. During the 19th and 20th centuries metals were extracted from open pit mines on a massive scale. Huge piles of waste were left to fester, allowing acidic water, toxic metals and sulphates to seep through the land and penetrate into water springs and rivers.
It is a bizarre landscape – grotesque but in a perverse way also very beautiful. But do not let this “beauty“ deceive us. The poisoned Tintillo river should serve as a stark warning. It demonstrates what happens to our natural environment if we do not take proper action to protect it . . .

You can create multiple entries, and pay for them at the same time.
Just go to your History, and select multiple entries that you would like to pay for.