Understanding Vegetation, Soil Types, and Climate Patterns
Vegetation
In botany, vegetation refers to a classification of plant species characterized by a particular physiognomy that, in turn, determines a characteristic landscape. The basic types are forest, scrub, meadow, and steppe. There are three types of forest: deciduous, sclerophyllous, and Canary laurel. The forest represents the climax vegetation as the final stage in the evolution of plant formations. Secondary vegetation consists of species developed after human intervention, either through controlled exploitation of the forest or the replacement of native species with others of greater economic efficiency.
Landscape Plants
A landscape is an area with similar morphological and functional characteristics based on a specific location’s scale. The scale is defined by the size of the landscape or, equivalently, the size of the observer’s “vision.” For example, a regional landscape, such as a vast desert, can hide local variations.
Soil Types
Soil is the surface layer of the Earth’s crust, composed of elements in three states. Solids include mineral particles from rock weathering and living or decaying organic matter (bacteria, fungi, worms, insects, roots). Soil also contains fluid elements (water) occupying the pores and gases (CO2). The science of soil is called soil science.
Terra Rossa
Terra Rossa is a type of red clay soil caused by the erosion of limestone. When limestone weathers, the clay contained in the rocks is left behind, along with any other insoluble rock material. Under oxidizing conditions, when soils are above the water table, iron oxide forms in the clay, giving it a characteristic red-orange color. It is typically found in Mediterranean climate regions and has favorable features that make it a popular soil type for wine production.
Brown Earth
Brown Earth on siliceous rocky substrates is an evolution conditioner. Brown earth soil is rich in humus. With favorable topography, it is suitable for cultivation, and on slopes, it is good for grazing.
Landa
Landa is a generic name given to the bush found in areas of hardwood forest, usually occurring in acid soils. This vegetation is a result of the degradation of deciduous forests on the Cantabrian Coast.
Hydrological Regimes
Joint Regime
A joint regime refers to a medium mountain river located at altitudes below 2500 meters. It has a main peak preceding June due to earlier snowmelt and a secondary maximum in autumn due to storm-type precipitation.
Jet Stream
The jet stream is a strong wind current that flows in a tubular structure from west to east between 9 and 11 kilometers in altitude. It is located in the height difference between the polar and tropical tropopause. The jet stream separates the low-pressure stream present on the pole (to the left of the stream’s path) from the tropical high-pressure stream (to the right). It is responsible for surface weather patterns.
Mediterranean Vegetation
Maquis and Garrigue
Maquis and garrigue are scrub types that occur in Mediterranean forest areas. Maquis is a tall, dense scrub that occurs in siliceous soils, while garrigue is a low, thin scrub that occurs in limestone soils.
Deciduous Forest
A deciduous forest is a forest of deciduous trees that lose their leaves in winter. It is typical of northern Spain, where hardwood forests, beech, and oak are found.
Steppe
A steppe is a biome that includes a flat, extensive area of herbaceous vegetation, typical of extreme weather and low rainfall. It is also associated with cold deserts to differentiate them from hot deserts. These regions are far from the sea and have a continental arid climate. They are dominated by low grasses and shrubs. The soil contains many minerals and low organic matter. There are also steppe areas with a high iron oxide content, giving the ground a reddish hue.
River Flow and Regimes
Full Flow
Full flow is the quantity or volume of a liquid passing through a particular section in a given time. The flow is a function of the section (in square meters) and the speed at which it crosses that section (in meters per second). It is based on the arithmetic mean of observations over a period of at least 30 years, expressed in liters or cubic meters per second.
Fluvial Regime
The fluvial regime is the seasonal variation in river flow. It depends on rainfall distribution and the importance of snow precipitation. Based on these factors, rivers are distinguished as having a nival regime, a pluvial regime, or a mixed regime.
Nival Regime
Rivers with a nival regime have their volume determined by water inflows from melting snow. These rivers have a prominent peak in spring due to melting and a low in winter because the water is retained as ice. They correspond to mountain rivers and are of two types: pure snow in high mountain rivers and mixed snow in middle mountain rivers.
Pluvial Regime
Rivers with a pluvial regime have their flow strictly determined by precipitation. The basic types are:
- Oceanic: Cantabrian rivers with abundant flow, high water in winter, and drought in summer.
- Pure Mediterranean: Rivers on the eastern coast of the peninsula with scarce and irregular flow, three peaks, and three minimums.
- Continentalized Mediterranean: Rivers in the interior of the peninsula with a long and pronounced dry season in summer and high water in spring and autumn.
- Subtropical: Rivers in the south of the peninsula with very low and irregular flow, a summer minimum lasting 7 months below the unit, and high water due to winter rains.
Weather and Climate
Weather is the physical state of the atmosphere at a particular time and place. Climate is the succession of weather states, allowing us to establish patterns or states of the atmosphere over the years. While the study of weather is the domain of meteorology (a branch of physics), climate is the subject matter of climatology, a branch of physical geography.