Geography of Spain: Landforms, Climate, and Regions
What is Geography?
Geography is the science of human relationships with the environment in which they live. We can differentiate between economic, human, and physical geography.
Cartography
Cartography is the discipline that studies and produces maps. We can differentiate between general and thematic cartography.
Projections
Projections are based on the shadows of the meridians and parallels of a sphere left on a surface and can become flat with some deformation (cylindrical, conical, azimuthal, polar, etc.).
Coordinate System
A coordinate system is a set of values that defines the position of any point in a geometric space about a point called the origin.
Earth’s Movement
Earth’s movement around the sun is on a journey in the form of an ellipse. It takes 365 days, 6 hours, and 9 minutes.
Seasons
Seasons are different in each hemisphere because the rotation axis is inclined to the plane. They are due to the revolution of the Earth.
Geographic Location of Spain
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula is located in the southwest of the Eurasian continent, washed by the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. It has an area of 492,375 km2.
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands are located off the African coast in the Atlantic Ocean. They are composed of seven major islands and other smaller ones, totaling 7,271 km2.
Balearic Islands
The Balearic Islands are situated off the east coast of the peninsula in the Mediterranean Sea. They are composed of Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza, Formentera, Cabrera, and Dragonera, totaling 5,014 km2.
Ceuta and Melilla
Ceuta is located on the Jebala Peninsula, North Africa, bordering the Kingdom of Morocco. Melilla is located on the eastern end of the Rif, 90 km from the Moroccan city of Nador.
Geological Time of the Iberian Peninsula
- Archaic: Land surface did not exist in the Iberian Peninsula, only Pangea.
- 1st or Paleozoic: The central plateau and the Pyrenees mountain range north of the Catalan range emerge.
- 2nd or Mesozoic: It was a calm period.
- 3rd or Cenozoic: The Betic System, Pyrenees, Iberian, Cantabrian Mountains, and the Sierra Morena outcrop, as well as the Ebro and Guadalquivir valleys.
- Quaternary: Glaciers are formed, as well as the Albufera Valenciana and Galician estuaries.
Relief
Relief is the set of geographic features that are in a given region: elevations, depressions, and the contour of its shores.
Characteristics of the Plateau
The Hesperian Massif is old, razed, and turned into a peneplain. Sedimented and hardened materials are folded and fractured, uplifted in the Tertiary. The Central System divides it into the northern and southern sub-plateaus. It is slightly tilted westward, with the Duero, Tagus, and Guadiana rivers flowing in that direction.
- Northern Sub-Plateau: Crossed by the Duero River, with wide and high plains.
- Southern Sub-Plateau: Crossed by the Tagus and Guadiana Rivers, with broad plains.
Northern Edge: Galician Massif
It constitutes the northwestern tip of the plateau’s base. It is composed of hard rock, fractured by Alpine movement. It has an average altitude of 500m. The estuaries are inland mountains, as are the Mountains of León.
Cantabrian Mountains
The Cantabrian Mountains extend along 400 km from the Pyrenees to the Galician Massif. We can distinguish the Asturian Massif, the Santander Mountains, and the Basque Mountains.
Eastern Edge: Iberian System
The Iberian System extends from Burgos to the Mediterranean coast. It has a northwest-southeast direction, with alternating depressions and small basins. It acts as a watershed between the Duero, Ebro, and Turia basins.
Southern Edge: Sierra Morena
The Sierra Morena is not a ridge but a break caused by the folding push of the Betic Cordillera. It is a tectonic step.
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees extend from the Bay of Biscay to Cape Creus. They are of Alpine origin. We can distinguish the axial Pyrenees and the Pre-Pyrenees.
Catalan Coastal Range
The Catalan Coastal Range is a complex ridge due to its topography and the varied disposition of its source materials. We can differentiate between the littoral mountain range and the coastal mountain range.
Betic System
The Betic System arose during Alpine movement. It extends from Cape Trafalgar to Cape Nao and under the sea to the Balearic Islands and North Africa. We can differentiate between the Penibetic System, the Subbetic System, and the Intrabetic basins and furrows.
Coasts
Atlantic Coast
- Cantabrian Coast: Rectilinear, with cliffs and scarce beaches, short estuaries.
- Galician Coast: Cut by wide estuaries.
- Andalusian Atlantic Coast: Sandy beaches; Atlantic currents prevent the formation of deltas.
Mediterranean Coast
- Betic Coast: Sheltered, sedimentary character due to Atlantic currents.
- Valencian Coast: Wide coastal plain.
- Catalan Coast: The Ebro Delta, a floodplain abounding in lagoons and ponds.
- Costa Brava: Steep and rocky.
Formation of the Canary Islands
- 1st Cycle: Submarine Volcanic Cycle: This is the oldest cycle, constituting the bottom of the stratigraphic column. It only surfaces in Fuerteventura, La Gomera, and La Palma.
- 2nd Cycle: Magmatic Cycle: This cycle does not occur simultaneously on all the islands. The oldest dating corresponds to Fuerteventura, and the most modern to El Hierro. The materials are similar: basalts.
- 3rd Cycle: Eruptive Cycle: After a long period of calm, volcanic activity is restarted, this time varied throughout the archipelago. It sets up the ravines and Teide, the highest peak on El Hierro.
Spanish Climate Conditioning Factors
- Latitude
- Atmospheric circulation
- Influence of the sea
- Altitude
- Disposal of the relief
Weather vs. Climate
Weather is the atmospheric condition of a particular place at a particular time. It is characterized by the combination of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rain, and clouds. The science of weather is meteorology, which studies cyclones, anticyclones, and weather.
Climate is the succession of weather types that occur in one place for a long time. The science of climate is climatology. Its elements are temperature, precipitation, humidity, wind, and atmospheric pressure.