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 ...

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 ...

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.

References

External links

*
Desert de les Palmes Nature Reserve

{{Authority control Mountain ranges of the Valencian Community Plana Alta

Origin of the name

Location

Geology

See also

References

External links