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The Iberian System [a] is one of the major systems of mountain ranges in Spain. It consists of a vast and complex area of mostly relatively high and rugged mountain chains and massifs located in the central region of the Iberian Peninsula , but reaching almost the Mediterranean coast in the Valencian Community in the east.
The Iberian Peninsula (IPA: / aɪ ˈ b ɪər i ə n / eye-BEER-ee-ən), [a] also known as Iberia, [b] is a peninsula in south-western Europe.Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of Peninsular Spain [c] and Continental Portugal, comprising most of the region, as well as the tiny adjuncts of Andorra, Gibraltar, and, pursuant to the ...
These two mountain chains are part of the Alpine belt. To the west, the peninsula is delimited by the continental boundary formed by the opening of the Atlantic Ocean. The Hercynian fold belt is mostly buried by Mesozoic and Cenozoic cover rocks to the east but nevertheless outcrops through the Iberian Chain and the Catalan Coastal Ranges. [1]
The Guadarramas form a natural division between the North and South mesetas of the Iberian Peninsula, part of the so-called Sistema Central.. The mountain bases are located between 900 and 1,200 metres above sea level, and the principal peaks of the range have an average topographic prominence of 1,000 metres.
The Iberian plate is a microplate typically grouped with the Eurasian plate that includes the microcontinent Iberia, Corsica, Sardinia, the Balearic Islands, the Briançonnais zone of the Penninic nappes of the Alps, and the portion of Morocco north of the High Atlas Mountains. The Iberian plate is a part of the Eurasian plate. [2] [3]
The mountain ranges that are part of this system are generally aligned \along a southwest-northeast direction. [1] The best-known range of the Baetic System is the Sierra Nevada, which contains the Mulhacén, the highest mountain in continental Spain and in the Iberian Peninsula.
The system is formed by two mountain ranges: the Catalan Coastal Range, located along the coast, and the Catalan Pre-Coastal Range, located further northwest. In the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula are the Baetic Systems , a group of mountain chains and ranges that form a geographic unit.
As a consequence, a low-angle intracrustal detachment level formed at 15 km depth, above the subducting middle and lower Iberian crust. Along this detachment, the rocks now making up the axial zone, the South Pyrenean Zone, and the Sierras Marginales were gliding southward and gradually ramping up to the surface.