Historical diagrams of the arrangement of the terraces in the Cardener river valley: above, from 1929, in Callús; in the center, from 1940, in Manresa and Sant Joan de Vilatorrada; and below, from 1960, in the current Plaça Catalunya neighbourhood of Manresa. The figures, in the 1940 and 1960 diagrams, indicate the level difference in meters between the terrace and the current level of the Cardener river, while that in diagram of 1929 indicate meters above sea level. Note the use of the conventions “right bank” and “left bank” with the observer looking at the river downstream.
The diagram of 1960 was done by the geologist Valentí Masachs and published in the magazine Bages. It aims to stratigraphically frame the discovery of the tusk of Palaeoloxodon antiquus (= Elephas antiquus) in the gravel pit of Tossal dels Cigalons (Manresa) which is nowadays exhibited in the Museum of Manresa / Museum of Baroque of Catalonia. Furthermore, the tusk of Mammuthus meridionalis (= Elephas meridionalis) that was found in the Puigberenguer gravel pit in 1957 is the most emblematic piece in the Museum of Geology Valentí Masachs.
[Collected by Josep Biosca]