The Plain of Vic (CatalanPlana de Vic) is a 30 km long depression located at the eastern end of the Catalan Central Depression in the Osonacomarca. It is named after the town of Vic, an important and ancient urban center in this natural region that lies in the midst of the plain. Other significant towns in the plain are Manlleu and Tona.
The Plain of Vic was the bed of an ancient sea. It is mainly formed by sedimentary rocks, like carbonatic lutite, from the eocene. The most remarkable characteristic of the landscape in the plain are low, isolated hills known as turons testimoni, "testimonial hills".[1]Fossils are quite abundant in areas of the Plain of Vic.
The plain is subject to a phenomenon of thermal inversion, especially marked in calm weather days during the fall and the winter, by which the surrounding mountain ranges are often warmer than the plain. This inversion in temperature also reflects in the vegetation.[2] The original vegetation of the plain was oak (Quercus pubescens) forest, but little is left owing to continuous human intervention since ancient times. Some very ancient oaks have been preserved as a tourist attraction.
