Cantabrian Mountains


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Cantabrian Mountains

Cantabrian Mountains (kăntāˈbrēən), N Spain, extending c.300 mi (480 km) along the Bay of Biscay from the Pyrenees to Cape Finisterre. Torre de Cerredo (8,687 ft/2,648 m) in the Picos de Europa group in the central section is the highest peak. The mountains are rich in minerals, especially coal and iron; the slopes are farmed. The streams on the northern slope are used to generate hydroelectricity. The Ebro River rises on the southeast slope. The mountains are the last Iberian redoubt of the European brown bear, and most of the Picos de Europa range was converted into a national park (1995) in part to protect it.
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The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Cantabrian Mountains

 

(Cordillera Cantábrica), mountains in northern Spain. They extend along the southern shore of the Bay of Biscay. Length, about 500 km; maximum elevation, 2, 648 m (Torre de Serredo).

The northern slopes are steep, precipitously sheer in places, and deeply dissected by river valleys and canyons; in the south they are flat, turned toward the meseta. The highest, western part (with an average elevation of about 2, 000 m) is formed of Paleozoic quartzite, marble, and limestone; the eastern part (the Basque Mountains) is lower (with elevations of 1,000–1, 500 m)and consists primarily of ridges whose peaks and slopes haves softer outlines; it is formed of Mesozoic limestone, sandstone, and dolomite. Karst is widespread. There are deposits of coal, iron, and polymetallic ores. The climate is moist, especially on the northern slopes; annual precipitation amounts to more than1,000 mm. There is a dense network of fast-flowing rivers. The northern slopes have broad-leaved and mixed forests (oak, beech, chestnut, and pine); predominant in the south are ever-green and deciduous shrubs. Above 1, 600–1, 800 m are subalpine scrub and alpine meadows.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Out of that area, it has only been found four isolated populations in western Cantabrian Mountains: one in Leonese territories in high Babia (Sierra de Villabandin in the municipality of Cabrillanes) (Garcia Gonzalez & al., 1987), and three in Asturias (Degana, Somiedo and Cangas del Narcea, although the first of them does not already exist) (Carlon & al., 2010).
In any case, we mention it here because is doubtlessly the population with the largest number of individuals in Leon and very likely of the Cantabrian Mountains. The other report is in Ubina massif too, but four kilometres to the north approximately.
Notes on threatened plants of Leon (Spain), III/Notas sobre flora leonesa amenazada, III
(1971b): Three Upper Carboniferous, limestone-rich, high-destructive delta systems with submarine fan deposits, Cantabrian Mountains, Spain.
[Pennsylvanian bioconstructions of the Cantabrian Mountains (Northern Spain).] Koelner Forum fuer Geologie und Palaeontologie 9, 139.
Carboniferous auloporids from the Iberian Peninsula: palaeocology, diversity, and spatio-temporal distribution
Spain: Valdore, Cremenes (Esla nappe) and Salce (Somiedo-Correcilla Subunit), Cantabrian Mountains. Lancara Formation, Early Bilbilian (Zone X), Stage 4, Series 2, Cambrian.
New Bilbilian (early Cambrian) archaeocyath-rich thrombolitic microbialite from the Lancara Formation (Cantabrian Mts., northern Spain)/Nuevas microbialitas de arqueociatos y trombolitos del Bilbiliense (Cambrico inferior) de la Formacion Lancara (Cordillera Cantabrica, norte de Espana)
The relief of the Alpine Orogeny in northern and northeastern Iberian Peninsula, trends east-west with a constant width of around 80 km in the Pyrenees and eastern Cantabrian Mountains. However, in the northwestern part, the Alpine relief changes direction (southwards) and separates into a series of individual mountain ranges with peaks above 2,000 m (e.g.
Geometry, structures and evolution of the western termination of the Alpine-Pyrenean Orogen reliefs (NW Iberian Peninsula)/Geometria, estructuras y evolucion de la terminacion occidental de los relieves del Orogeno Alpino-Pirenaico (NO Peninsula Iberica)
In our exhaustive tours through the Cantabrian Mountains del Egido & Puente, 2011a, b; del EGIDO & al., 2012 in search of the diverse representation of species of Pilosella, we detected some important populations of P.
Pilosella argyrogaliciana, P. argyrolegionensis and P. megargyrocoma (Asteraceae): three new species from the Cantabrian Mountains (N. Spain)/Pilosella argyrogaliciana, P. argyrolegionensis y P. megargyrocoma (Asteraceae): tres nuevas especies de la Cordillera Cantdbrica (N Espana)
It is distributed worldwide and has been recorded in Spain from the Iberian Chains (Carls and Gandl, 1969), the Pyrenees (Boersma, 1973b; Valenzuela-Rios, 1994; Martinez-Perez and Valenzuela-Rios, 2005) and the Cantabrian Mountains (Garcia-Lopez and Alonso-Menendez, 1994; Garcia-Lopez and Sanz-Lopez, 2002a); in Bohemia in the Czech Republic (Chlupac et al., 1980; Slavik, 2004); in the Carnic Alps in Austria (Schonlaub, 1985); in Nevada in the USA (Klapper, 1969; Klapper and Johnson, 1975); in Canada (Fahraeus, 1971); in Zinzilban (Uzbekistan, central Asia) (Yolkin et al., 1994) and in Australia (Flood, 1969; Mawson et al., 1992).
Emsian (Lower Devonian) polygnathids (conodont) succession in the Spanish Central Pyrenees/Sucesion de Polygnatidos (Conodontos) del Emsiense (Devonico Inferior) en los Pirineos Centrales Espanoles
The evening, exclusively open to members of our culture club, featured wines from the Ribera del Duero area of Spain, which lies north of Madrid and south of the Cantabrian mountains.
Viniculture brings our people together
In another archaeological site, this time in the eastern Cantabrian Mountains, the charcoal record from El Miron Cave shows a major use of yew as fuel ca.
Holocene history of Taxus baccata in the Basque Mountains (Northern Iberian Peninsula)/Historia holocena de Taxus baccata en las Montanas Vascas (Norte de la Peninsula Iberica)
Different episodes of extensional tectonics associated with the opening and propagation of the Tethys Sea towards the west during the Triassic, as well as the opening of the North Atlantic, were recorded in the western border of the Cantabrian Mountains, Spain and other nearby areas.
New palynological and isotopic data for the Triassic of the western Cantabrian Mountains (Spain)
The aim of this study was to analyze four stalagmites that grew during the Eemian in Cueva del Cobre, an extensive cave in the Cantabrian Mountains (N Spain).
Cronologia de la Terminacion II y del Ultimo Periodo Interglacial en el norte de Espana a partir de los registros de isotopos estables de estalagmitas procedentes de la Cueva del Cobre (Palencia)

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