Pyrite

Sierra de Almagro


The Sierra de Almagro extends through the inner zone of the Betic Mountains – that is, in the Penibetic mountains south-east of the province of Almeria. This extension is characterised by its aridity and desolation, as well as its great variety of beautiful landscapes and wide diversity of minerals.

Without a definite direction, this mountain complex sits east and south-east of the small valley that forms the Arroyo of Canalejas. To the west, the mountains descend almost to the waters of the Almanzora River and the Almanzora Reservoir, while to the north is the town of Huercal-Overa. The small plateau from this town reaches to the west of the municipality of Pulpi.

Alto de Almagro1

It is located in the central area of the Almanzora Valley, where the heights are not very high. However, its landscapes offer pine forests; rugged, fractured, very eroded, steep terrain; reliefs on the slopes that allow you to observe the overlaps of landslides; steep-sloped arroyos; and hills and softer synclines that join with plains. The “Cucharon” is its highest summit, at 714 meters above sea level.

As for the reading of the tectonic units that compose it, its structure is quite complicated due to its significant deformations and the high gradient of associated metamorphism, developed throughout its orogeny. For this reason, its relief offers a somewhat chaotic range of folds (anticline, syncline, asymmetric folds) and blankets of landslides associated with failures of all kinds – sets that have been subjected, throughout their formation, to continuous erosion.

In turn, as a result of the complex metamorphic, tectonic, sedimentary, and chemical processes, a great variety of rocks appear, such as quartzes and slates, phytates, shales, limestones, dolomites, gypsum embedded in limestones or iron farms, carbonated rocks, marbles, metapelites, calcarenites, sands, marls and clays, travertines, metabasites, and others.
 
The climate is sub-desert Mediterranean; that is, it has strong sunshine, low rainfall, and high temperatures. In addition, because it is far from the coast, it does not have high relative humidity, as it does not receive the sea breezes that are so common in the coastal mountains.

The fauna is represented by amphibians such as toads and frogs, which are easy to find in the ponds and springs of the same. The reptiles include species of lizards, snakes, and geckos, in addition to small populations of Greek tortoises and ocellated lizards. Also, the area is home to birds such as herons, egrets, and various species of ducks.
 
Iberian Lizard
 
In addition to all these curious characteristics, the Sierra de Almagro has an interesting historical past that attests to the presence of several waves of settlers from the Palaeolithic period to the age of the Mediterranean bronze, about 2,000 BC, and then followed by the Phoenicians, the Iberians, and the Romans.