Sierra del Escudo de Cabuérniga

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Sierra del Escudo de Cabuérniga

Celis01.jpg

View of the range above Celis, a village of Rionansa municipality
Highest point
Peak Gándara
Elevation 927 m (3,041 ft)
Dimensions
Length 50 km (31 mi)E/W
Width 15 km (9.3 mi)N/S
Geography
Relief Map of Spain.png
Red triangle with thick white border.svg
Location in Spain
Location Asturias
Country Spain
Range coordinates 43°16′N4°19′W / 43.267°N 4.317°W / 43.267; -4.317 Coordinates: 43°16′N4°19′W / 43.267°N 4.317°W / 43.267; -4.317
Parent range Cantabrian Mountains
Geology
Orogeny Alpine orogeny
Age of rock Mesozoic
Type of rock Sandstone

The Sierra del Escudo de Cabuérniga is a mountain range in Cantabria, Spain. It is a northern foothill of the Cantabrian Mountains, located between the main ranges and the Bay of Biscay. Its highest point is 927 m high Gándara. [1]

Mountain range A geographic area containing several geologically related mountains

A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills ranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arisen from the same cause, usually an orogeny. Mountain ranges are formed by a variety of geological processes, but most of the significant ones on Earth are the result of plate tectonics. Mountain ranges are also found on many planetary mass objects in the Solar System and are likely a feature of most terrestrial planets.

Cantabria Autonomous community and province of Spain

Cantabria is an autonomous community in northern Spain with Santander as its capital city. It is recognized as a historic community and is bordered on the east by the Basque Autonomous Community, on the south by Castile and León, on the west by the Principality of Asturias, and on the north by the Cantabrian Sea.

Spain Kingdom in Southwest Europe

Spain, officially the Kingdom of Spain, is a country mostly located on the Iberian Peninsula in Europe. Its territory also includes two archipelagoes: the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa, and the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea. The African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla make Spain the only European country to have a physical border with an African country (Morocco). Several small islands in the Alboran Sea are also part of Spanish territory. The country's mainland is bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea except for a small land boundary with Gibraltar; to the north and northeast by France, Andorra, and the Bay of Biscay; and to the west and northwest by Portugal and the Atlantic Ocean.

Contents

Traditionally in Cantabria this range has been considered the border between La Marina (The Coast) and La Montaña (The Mountain).

Geography

The Sierra del Escudo de Cabuérniga runs parallel to the coast, separated 15–20 km from it. The altitude of its summits averages between 600 and 1,000 meters above sea level.

The range is broken in several places by gorges eroded by the rivers which flow perpendicularly from the Cantabrian Mountains into the sea. Its continuity is very well marked in the western zone of Cantabria, while to the east, its orography starts to dilute, although the appearance of great faults mark its East-West route. The Escudo River has its sources in this range. [2]

Geologically the Sierra del Escudo de Cabuérniga is an inverted basin geological fault where Paleozoico stands exposed, along with Mesozoic rocks of the Jurassic and Cretacean periods. [3]

The Mesozoic Era is an interval of geological time from about 252 to 66 million years ago. It is also called the Age of Reptiles, a phrase introduced by the 19th century paleontologist Gideon Mantell who viewed it as dominated by diapsids such as Iguanodon, Megalosaurus, Plesiosaurus and Pterodactylus. To paleobotanists, this Era is also called the Age of Conifers.

The Jurassic was a geologic period and system that spanned 56 million years from the end of the Triassic Period 201.3 million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period 145 Mya. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic Era, also known as the Age of Reptiles. The start of the period was marked by the major Triassic–Jurassic extinction event. Two other extinction events occurred during the period: the Pliensbachian-Toarcian extinction in the Early Jurassic, and the Tithonian event at the end; however, neither event ranks among the "Big Five" mass extinctions.

787.02  hectares of the central strip of the range, near Carmona, are catalogued as a Site of Community Importance. [4]

Hectare metric unit of area

The hectare is an SI accepted metric system unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides, or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is about 0.405 hectare and one hectare contains about 2.47 acres.

A Site of Community Importance (SCI) is defined in the European Commission Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) as a site which, in the biogeographical region or regions to which it belongs, contributes significantly to the maintenance or restoration at a favourable conservation status of a natural habitat type or of a species and may also contribute significantly to the coherence of Natura 2000, and/or contributes significantly to the maintenance of biological diversity within the biogeographic region or regions concerned.

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