The Castelltallat range (

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

: Serra de Castelltallat) is located in central

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

(

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

) between the comarcas of Bages and

Solsonès Solsonès () is a comarca (county) in Catalonia, Spain. It is part of historic county of Urgell Modern-day Urgell (), also known as ''Baix Urgell'' (''baix'' meaning "lower", by contrast with Alt Urgell "Higher Urgell"), is a ''comarca'' (c ...

, extending over the provinces of

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

and

Lleida Lleida (, ; Spanish: Lérida ) is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital city of the province of Lleida. Geographically, it is located in the Catalan Central Depression. It is also the capital city of the Segrià comarca, as ...

, and occupying an area of about 65 square kilometres. It is one of the isolated hills of the

Catalan Central Depression The Catalan Central Depression ( ca, Depressió Central Catalana) is a natural depression between the Pre-Pyrenees and the Catalan Pre-Coastal Range in Spain. It widens towards the west, linking with the Ebro Depression, ca, Depressió de l'E ...

and is located at its southwestern end.

Description

Geologically the Castelltallat range is made up of

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

and

marl Marl is an earthy material rich in carbonate minerals, clays, and silt. When hardened into rock, this becomes marlstone. It is formed in marine or freshwater environments, often through the activities of algae. Marl makes up the lower part o ...

mountains oriented WSW-ENE. The highest point of the range is the 936 m high "Tossal". The northern slopes are steep and forested, while the southern slopes are used for agriculture owing to their lesser inclination. Most of the mountain belongs to the municipality of

Sant Mateu de Bages Sant Mateu de Bages is a village in the comarca of Bages in province of Barcelona and autonomous community of Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, desi ...

while the western part lies within the municipalities of

Pinós Pinós is a village and municipality in the Provinces of Spain, province of Province of Lleida, Lleida and autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain. The municipality includes a small exclave to the north-east. The village is regarded as the geogra ...

and La Molsosa. The village of Castelltallat was a municipality until 1840 when it became part of San Mateu de Bages municipal term. The parish church of Sant Miquel has been documented since 1031 and is located at an altitude of 887 m. The Church contains samples of Romanesque,

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

and neoclassical architectural styles. It was built at the feet of the now ruined 10th or 11th century Castelltallat castle which gave its name to the mountain range, for "Castell talaiat" comes from the words ''"Castell"'', castle, and ''"Talaia"'', watchtower.

Climate

Submediterranean climate In biogeography, the Mediterranean Basin (; also known as the Mediterranean Region or sometimes Mediterranea) is the region of lands around the Mediterranean Sea that have mostly a Mediterranean climate, with mild to cool, rainy winters and wa ...

with a mean annual temperature of 12 °C, January is the coldest month (3'5 °C) and July and August the warmest (21'5 °C) and annual precipitation of about 600 liters with little or no snow. Most of the range is part of an "Areas of Natural Interest Plan" (''PEIN'') of the government of Catalonia.

Fauna and flora

Before the wildfires of 1994 and 1998, pines dominated the landscape: ''

Pinus nigra ''Pinus nigra'', the Austrian pine or black pine, is a moderately variable species of pine, occurring across Southern Europe from the Iberian Peninsula to the eastern Mediterranean, on the Anatolian peninsula of Turkey, Corsica and Cyprus, as wel ...

'', '' Pinus halepensis'' '' Pinus sylvestris'' and a lesser extent '' Pinus pinea''. After the fires '' Quercus humilis'' and ''

Quercus ilex ''Quercus ilex'', the evergreen oak, holly oak or holm oak is a large evergreen oak native to the Mediterranean region. It is a member of the ''Ilex'' section of the genus, with acorns that mature in a single summer. Description An evergreen tr ...

'' sprouts became the most visible trees. Where there is no forest predominate meadow '' Aphyllantion'' or ''

Brachypodium ''Brachypodium'' is a genus of plants in the grass family, widespread across much of Africa, Eurasia, and Latin America. The genus is classified in its own tribe Brachypodieae. Flimsy upright stems form tussocks. Flowers appear in compact spi ...

'' and shrubs specially '' Dorycnum pentaphyllum'' and

rosemary ''Salvia rosmarinus'' (), commonly known as rosemary, is a shrub with fragrant, evergreen, needle-like leaves and white, pink, purple, or blue flowers, native plant, native to the Mediterranean Region, Mediterranean region. Until 2017, it was kn ...

. It is remarkable for the presence of the gypsophilous plant named ''ruac'' ('' Ononis tridentata'') in some small gypsum patches and the bastard balm (''

Melittis melissophyllum ''Melittis melissophyllum'' is a species of flowering plant in the mint family, Lamiaceae. Its common name is bastard balm. It is the only species in the monotypic genus ''Melittis''.Scheen, A. C., et al. (2008)Molecular phylogenetics of tribe S ...

''). Also interesting are the examples of yellow foxglove (''

Digitalis lutea ''Digitalis lutea'', the straw foxglove or small yellow foxglove, is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae, that is native to western and southern Europe and North West Africa. A short-lived herbaceous perennial or b ...

''), ''Primulas'' ('' Primula acaulis'') and the broom (''

Genista cinerea Genista is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family Fabaceae, native to open habitats such as moorland and pasture in Europe and western Asia. They include species commonly called broom, though the term may also refer to other genera, i ...

''). The bird population seems to have been little affected by wildfires. Among the birds Eurasian eagle-owl ( ''Bubo bubo'') is the greatest between the nesting birds. Since a few years it can see the griffon vulture (''Gyps fulvus'') fly, coming from the neighboring county of upper

. The number of partridges do not seem to have changed after wildfires. Between feral mammals the number of

wild boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is ...

s and

fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

es is increasing. The population of

rabbit Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit speci ...

s in contrast, is highly variable.

The astronomical observatory

The

astronomical observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. His ...

was built close to the ruins of the ancient castle as part of the revitalization of the area after numerous forest fires. Opened in 2004, the dome of the observatory has a diameter of 5 meters and the telescope 400 mm.

References

Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana * Panareda Clopés, Josep Maria; Rios Calvet, Jaume; Rabella Vives, Josep Maria (1989). ''Guia de Catalunya'', Barcelona: Caixa de Catalunya. (Spanish).

Arqueociencia with picture of the castle ruins.

External links