Sierra Morena
Guadalquivir
Betic
Coast
Sea
Andalusia, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, is the second largest autonomous community in the Spanish state.
Sierra Morena
Huelva, Seville, Cordoba, Jaen – Medium-sized, wooded and unpopulated granite mountains, refuge for large wildlife.
To the north, is Sierra Morena, an ancient, granitic, eroded and low-altitude mountain range. Generally poor soils with poor agricultural yield have forced human ingenuity, which has developed an agro-silvopastoral culture and a typically Iberian ecosystem: the “dehesa” (wood pasture).
Sierra Morena has a lower population density than Lapland.
Guadalquivir River Valley
Huelva, Seville, Cordoba, Jaen – Andalusian spine dedicated to intensive agriculture and steppe species.
In the center, there is the Depression of the Guadalquivir River Valley, a large agricultural plain extremely fertile and mostly dedicated to intensive agriculture. This area is an old arm of the sea with loose and easily cultivable rock substrate soil. The Guadalquivir was the main means of communication in the region for centuries and the backbone between the cities of Seville and Cordoba. The river opens to the Atlantic Ocean south of Seville.
The Guadalquivir Valley is one of the most intensive agricultural regions in Europe, with up to three annual harvests possible.
Betic Mountain Range
Malaga, Cordoba, Granada, Jaen, Almeria – Steep limestone mountains populated with endemic flora and fauna.
To the South, the Betic Mountains, the 800 km long mountain range that extends from the Strait of Gibraltar to Mallorca (!). It is a young mountain chain, contemporary to the Alps, formed when the African plate collided with the European plate. The rocks, mainly of limestone form a karst relief, sharp, with large cliffs. The Sierra Nevada dominates the Betic Mountain Range with 20 peaks over 3,000 meters above sea level and formed by metamorphic rocks.
The Betic mountains are steep and form a biogeographical island favorable to the existence of endemic species.
The coast
Huelva, Malaga, Granada, Almeria – A Mediterranean coast with the best climate in Europe and rich biodiversity.
The coast, contact zone between the land and the sea, extends through Andalusia along almost 1,000 km in length. The Atlantic coast is organized around the Guadalquivir estuary with long cords of dunes and arrows of sea sand. The Mediterranean coast is bordered by mountains and is characterized by small, narrow beaches, sometimes hidden and picturesque, or overcrowded and urbanized.
The Trafalgar Lighthouse recalls the history of invasions and the importance of coastal defense throughout Iberian history.
The sea
Huelva, Malaga, Granada, Almeria – Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea: fisheries and cetaceans.
The Alboran Sea is the stretch of the Mediterranean Sea between Andalusia and the Maghreb and is dominated to the west by the Strait of Gibraltar. Its origin comes from the Atlantic waterfall that broke the land bridge between the two continents. Its seabed attests to it. Currently, strong marine currents exchange waters with salinity, temperature and density differentiated in both directions between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. The average depth is 1 000 meters, down to 2,200 m, which creates upward movements rich in nutrients favorable to marine life, particularly fish.
Civilization has historically developed near the sea and the ocean.
It should be noted that, from a geological and biogeographic point of view, the north of the Maghreb is very similar to our beautiful Andalusia.