Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
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 ...
The Sistema Ibérico mountain range borders the Meseta Central on its eastern end and separates the Meseta Central from the Ebro valley and from the Mediterranean coast.. This system runs northwest-southeast between the Ebro plain and the Meseta Central for over 500 km, from the La Bureba corridor in Burgos Province close to the Cordillera Cantábrica to the Mediterranean sea close to Valencia ...
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 mountains that rise up above the Mediterranean Sea to form these islands are an extension of the Sistema Penibetico. [3] The archipelago's highest points, which reach 1,400 meters, are in northwestern Mallorca, close to the coast. [3] The central portion of Mallorca is a plain, bounded on the east and the southeast by broken hills. [3]
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]
One form is the glacial cirque, a kind of circular depression under the influence of ice that occurs at higher altitudes and gives rise to a series of ice tongues called moraines that emerge from the highest part of the mountain and run through the valley to the base; if it fits between mountains and carves a valley in the shape of a "U" it is ...
The Alboran Sea is the westernmost portion of the Mediterranean Sea, lying between the Iberian Peninsula and the north of Africa (Spain on the north and Morocco and Algeria on the south). The Strait of Gibraltar , which lies at the west end of the Alboran Sea, connects the Mediterranean with the Atlantic Ocean .