These canals take thermal water to nearby villages and agricultural areas, some over the years having accumulated travertine deposits up to 10m inheight. The oldest rocks in the area are crystalline marbles, quartzites and schists and are located in the northern parts of the proposed park. Most of the rocks are, however, of the Pliocene period. The climate is quite mild, in summer being cooler than the nearby plains. Temperatures are high in July and August, average maximum of 34 C, with January temperatures dropping to an average of 1 C. Humidity is high in summer and precipitation highest in December, January and February, mostly in the form of snow, up to 35cm.
Winds are most frequently from the north-west.
In 1969 the vegetation map of the proposed park, showed land use cover, in descending order of area - to be, cultivated land, bare land subject to erosion, bare land, urban areas and maquis. Agricultural crops produced under irrigation include wheat, barley, corn, chick peas, lentils, cotton, tobacco, sugar beet and opium poppies. Fruit and vegetables are also grown. There are records of some 45 species of flowering plants, not all necessarily from the proposed park area. The town was founded at the end of the 2nd century BC, reaching the peak of its development under the Romans at the end of the 2nd and 3rd centuries.