(Zaragoza, Friday 23 May 2025). The Tourism Association of the Hecho Valley is organising a Geological Conference on the weekend of 31 May and 1 June, featuring lectures and field trips. Open to all those interested in our planet and the changes it undergoes over time, the activities will take place in the village of Hecho on Saturday, with an excursion to the glacial valley of Agua Tuerta on Sunday.

The event will feature José Luis Simón, Professor of Internal Geodynamics at the University of Zaragoza, who will give the lecture Magical thinking and rational thinking in the face of natural disasters and lead the field trips together with geologists Jose Javier Navarro, Marcel Galofré and Gema Fondevila.

Professor Simón has carried out extensive research for the University of Zaragoza and is the author of over 160 scientific publications, half of them in international journals. A prolific science communicator, he was the driving force behind the creation of the Aliaga Geological Park (Teruel), the first of its kind in Spain (1993), and the national outreach initiative Geolodía. His professional achievements have earned him numerous awards and recognitions.

Marcel Galofré will give the talk Are the Pyrenean ibones changing? What the Acherito and Estané lakes tell us. Galofré is a predoctoral researcher at the Pyrenean Institute of Ecology under the supervision of Blas Valero. His recent work has focused on sedimentary records in various lacustrine ecosystems of the Iberian Peninsula, with an emphasis on the Pyrenean high mountain lakes known as ibones.

The lectures will begin at 16:30 on Saturday at the Pallar de Agustín Museum in Hecho (Tourism Office). The programme also includes the screening of the short documentary The Used Earthquake: Science and Memory and a listening session of the musical piece Memoria de Marboré, based on the sedimentary record of this Pyrenean lake.

Also participating are geologist Jose Javier Navarro—who has worked in geological consulting on projects such as the geological map of Spain, radioactive waste storage, geological risk assessment, hydrogeology, geotechnics, mining, and quarrying—and Gema Fondevila, a local geologist from Hecho, who works as an environmental and cultural guide in the valley.

No registration is required. For more information, the organising Tourism Association can be contacted at: atvallehecho@gmail.com.