It covers some 500 square kilometres (190 sq mi), and is formed by the basins of the rivers Fardes and Guadix.

The fluvial channels gradually carried sediments from the surrounding mountain ranges that progressively clogged the basin and gave rise to a relatively flat or gently sloping bed.

The current configuration of the Hoya began to take form some 500,000 years ago in a strong paleogeographic restructuring.

Small rivers formed in the reliefs that surrounded the basin began a process of erosion that gave the landscape its now-characteristic gullies and badlands.

In the present day, the waters of the rivers Fardes and Guadix have made the Hoya de Guadix a fertile zone for irrigated farming, including fruit orchards (especially melons), poplar trees grown for their wood, cereals, legumes and vegetables.