Desert de les Palmes (, es, Desierto de las Palmas), also known as Serra del Desert de les Palmes is an 18.8 km long mountain range in the
Plana Alta
Plana Alta is a ''comarca'' in the province of Castelló in the Valencian Country (Spain). The largest town in the comarca is Castelló de la Plana, which is also the capital and largest town in the province.
Municipalities
The ''comarca'' ...
comarca,
Valencian Community
The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid with ...
,
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 ...
. Its highest point is Bartolo (729 m).
The ''Ermita de La Magdalena'' , an important church for Castellonenc people, is located on a hill at the southern end of the range. The
Prime Meridian
A prime meridian is an arbitrary meridian (a line of longitude) in a geographic coordinate system at which longitude is defined to be 0°. Together, a prime meridian and its anti-meridian (the 180th meridian in a 360°-system) form a great c ...
crosses the Desert de les Palmes roughly in the middle.
The
Columbretes Islands
The Columbretes Islands ( ca-valencia, Les Columbretes, or ''Els Columbrets'' (), are a group of small uninhabited islets of volcanic origin, in the Mediterranean Sea, off Orpesa. Administratively they belong to Castellón de la Plana in the Va ...
can be seen on clear days in the horizon looking seaward from the Desert de les Palmes heights.
Origin of the name
''Desert'', the name of the range, originated in an ancient
eremitical
A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions.
Description
In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Chr ...
settlement or
hermitage, known in
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 ...
as ''Desert'', that was located in the mountain range.
''Palmes'' on the other hand refers to the abundance of ''
Chamaerops humilis
''Chamaerops'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Arecaceae. The only currently fully accepted species is ''Chamaerops humilis'', variously called European fan palm or the Mediterranean dwarf palm. It is one of the most hardy palms, ...
'' palms in the range.
Short, stocky, and growing in clumps, ''Chamaerops humilis'' is the only
palm
Palm most commonly refers to:
* Palm of the hand, the central region of the front of the hand
* Palm plants, of family Arecaceae
**List of Arecaceae genera
* Several other plants known as "palm"
Palm or Palms may also refer to:
Music
* Palm (ba ...
endemic to Europe.
Location
The Desert de les Palmes stretches in a NE - SW direction in the municipal terms of
Benicàssim
Benicàssim (; es, Benicasim ; ar, بنو قاسم, translit=banū qāsim, or ar, بني قاسم, translit=banī qāsim, label=none, according to numismatic findings) is a municipality and beach resort located in the province of Castelló (p ...
,
Cabanes,
La Pobla Tornesa
La Pobla Tornesa is a municipality located in the province of Castellón, Valencian Community, Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto ...
,
Borriol
Borriol is a town and municipality located in the province of Castellón, Valencian Community, Spain.
History
Numerous archaeological remains, including the rock paintings of l'Albaroc indicate that the Borriol area was populated in antiquity. Th ...
and
Castelló de la Plana. It is located near the
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...
coastline, crossed by the highway between
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
Valencia
Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...
.
This mountain range has two ridges covered mostly with
Maquis shrubland
220px, Low maquis in Corsica
220px, High ''macchia'' in Sardinia
( , , ) or ( , ; often in Italian; hr, makija; ; ) is a shrubland biome in the Mediterranean region, typically consisting of densely growing evergreen shrubs.
Maquis is char ...
and low
Mediterranean forest
Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub is a biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. The biome is generally characterized by dry summers and rainy winters, although in some areas rainfall may be uniform. Summers are typically hot in ...
. There were two serious
forest fire
A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire ...
s in 1985 and 1992.
Some of the peaks of the Desert de les Palmes are more jagged than the summits of other mountain ranges in the same system, like
Serra d'Irta
Serra d'Irta (, es, Sierra de Irta) is an 18.8 km long mountain range in the Baix Maestrat comarca, Valencian Community, Spain. Its highest point is Pico Campanelles (573 m).
Location
The Serra d'Irta stretches in a northeast-southwest ...
or
Talaies d'Alcalà
Talaies d'Alcalà (, es, Atalayas de Alcalá), also known as Serra de les Talaies or simply Les Talaies, is a 21.5 km long mountain range in the Baix Maestrat comarca, Valencian Community, Spain. Its highest point is Talaia Grossa (635 m).
...
.
The castles of Montornés and Miravet date back to
Moorish
The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages.
Moors are not a distinct or se ...
times and the ''Ermita de les Santes'' church was built in 1617. There are two ridges in the range, the Desert de les Palmes and the Serra de les Santes, the latter named after the ''Ermita de les Santes''. The mountain range was declared a Nature Reserve by the
Generalitat Valenciana
The Generalitat Valenciana is the generic name covering the different self-government institutions under which the Spanish autonomous community of Valencia is politically organized.
It consists of seven institutions including the ''Corts Valen ...
in 1989 with the name Parc Natural del Desert de les Palmes.
Geology
The Desert de les Palmes is located in the transition area between the
Mediterranean System and the
Iberian System
Iberian refers to Iberia. Most commonly Iberian refers to:
*Someone or something originating in the Iberian Peninsula, namely from Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar and Andorra.
The term ''Iberian'' is also used to refer to anything pertaining to the fo ...
that formed 25 million years ago as part of the
Alpine orogeny.
Gepec.org Serra del Montsià
Both the Desert de les Palmes and the Serra de les Santes are part of an anticline
In structural geology, an anticline is a type of fold that is an arch-like shape and has its oldest beds at its core, whereas a syncline is the inverse of an anticline. A typical anticline is convex up in which the hinge or crest is the ...
of paleozoic
The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon.
The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838
by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and ' ...
materials. Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
, as well as red triassic
The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest period ...
and grey jurassic
The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...
and cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...
rocks give the exposed areas of this mountain range striking colors.
See also
*Mountains of the Valencian Community
This is a list of mountains in the Valencian Community of Spain.
See also
*List of mountains in Aragon
*List of mountains in Catalonia
*Sistema Ibérico
* Catalan Mediterranean System
*Prebaetic System
Sources
* VV.AA.(1999), ''Atlas Esc ...
References
External links
*
Desert de les Palmes Nature Reserve
{{Authority control
Mountain ranges of the Valencian Community
Plana Alta