Oceanic Climate Vegetation and Peninsular Relief Units
The Vegetation of Oceanic Climate
A. The Deciduous Forest
This consists of tall trees, with straight trunks and smooth, large leaves, which fall in autumn. This forest type has relatively few species that are brought together to form large masses. The most common features are oak or carvallo and beech. In the understory, ferns and mosses grow in a somber mood caused by the treetops.
Over time, large areas of deciduous forest have been disappearing. This decline is due to the loss of traditional uses of wood (construction tools), the substitution of wood for gas, diesel, or coal in rural heating, uncontrolled burning to obtain grazing, and forest fires.
At present, large areas have been replanted with fast-growing trees of good economic use, such as pine (wood and resin) and eucalyptus (cellulose and paper pulp). These resettlements have been widely criticized because the leaves of both trees contribute to acidification and soil impoverishment, and these species are more easily burned in a fire.
B. Heath and Meadows
Heath vegetation is a dense thicket, whose height may be low or reach four meters. Its most abundant species are heather, gorse, and retama. Heath appears as a result of deciduous forest degradation or supra-forest vegetation between 1600 and 2000 meters altitude. It is usually used for animal bedding and then as fertilizer.
Meadows occupy large tracts in oceanic landscapes. They have herbaceous vegetation and abundant pasture.
Main Morphostructural Units of the Peninsula
On the peninsula, there are large units of continental relief:
A. Sockets
These are plains or plateaus formed in the Primary Era as a result of the obliteration by erosion of mountain ranges encountered in this same orogeny.
B. Ancient Massifs
These are mountains formed in the Tertiary Period by the rise of a new block of a base as a result of Alpine orogenic movements. Therefore, they are also Paleozoic materials. They present soft, rounded peaks, when erosion surfaces are elevated. On the peninsula, the mountains are solid old interior of the plateau, the Massif Galaico, and the western part of the Cantabrian Mountains.
C. Folding Ridges
These are large mountain ridges that arose in the Tertiary orogeny by the folding of sedimentary materials, mainly limestone, deposited by the sea in the Secondary Age. Two types:
- Intermediate Ridges: Formed by the folding of materials deposited on the edges of the baseboards.
- Alpine Ranges: Formed by the folding of materials deposited in trenches or geosynclines.
D. Sedimentary Basins
These are sunken areas or depressions formed in the Tertiary Period and filled with sediment, limestone, clay, sandstone, or marl. Two types:
- Basins formed by the subsidence of a block of a base because of the pressures of the Tertiary orogeny.
- Pre-Alps Depressions: Located on either side of Alpine ridges. Their origin has been explained by decompression following the lifting of the Cordilleras, which caused the collapse of some fragments, or because the old geosynclines rising remained in their marine pits.