Isla Mayor in the Delta of the Guadalquivir River

Isla Mayor in the Delta of the Guadalquivir River Today’s Image of the Day comes thanks to the NASA Earth Observatory and features a look at Isla Mayor, a small island in the delta of the Guadalquivir River.

Isla Mayor is located in southwestern Spain and contains Doñana National Park, which is a marshland recently named an official UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The brightly colored squares in the center of the image are fish ponds and the darker rectangles are rice fields. Sea bass, shrimp, grey mullet, and meagre are all farmed here.  Isla Mayor (before 2000 called Villafranco del Guadalquivir) is situated in the southwest quadrant of the province of Seville, in the grounds of the Las Marismas del Guadalquivir. Part of the municipality is included in the area of the Parque Natural del entorno de Doñana. In 1996 it had 6022 inhabitants, among whom were also residents of the town of 

This image was taken by an astronaut on board the International Space Station.Isla Mayor is situated in the Las Marismas (marshes) of the Bajo Guadalquivir River, of which one part forms part of the Doñana National Park. The land is formed from sediment at the mouth of the Guadalquivir river. It is crisscrossed by canals, and the land dedicated primarily to the cultivation of rice.

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By Rory Arnold, Earth.com Staff Writer

Source: NASA Earth Observatory