Pico de Malpaso (English: "difficult step peak") is the highest point on the island of
El Hierro
El Hierro, nicknamed ''Isla del Meridiano'' (the "Meridian Island"), is the second-smallest and farthest-south and -west of the Canary Islands (an autonomous community of Spain), in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa, with a populatio ...
in the
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...
,
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 ...
.
Geography
The summit rises at the centre of the island on the border between
Frontera and
El Pinar de El Hierro
El Pinar (Spanish: ''El Pinar de El Hierro'') is a Spanish municipality on the island of El Hierro (nicknamed ''Isla del Meridiano'', the "Meridian Island"), Canary Islands. It was created in 2007.
Sites of interest
At the western end of El Pin ...
municipalities
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
(
Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife
Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, also Province of Santa Cruz ( es, link=no, Provincia de Santa Cruz de Tenerife), is a province of Spain, consisting of the western part of the autonomous community of the Canary Islands. It consists of about ...
).
On the mountain's top, at an elevation of 1,501.762 m above sea level, is located a
trig point
A triangulation station, also known as a trigonometrical point, and sometimes informally as a trig, is a fixed surveying station, used in geodetic surveying and other surveying projects in its vicinity. The nomenclature varies regionally: they a ...
.
From the mountain one can see the island of
La Palma
La Palma (, ), also known as ''La isla bonita'' () and officially San Miguel de La Palma, is the most north-westerly island of the Canary Islands, Spain. La Palma has an area of making it the fifth largest of the eight main Canary Islands. The ...
and others islands of Canary archipelago.
Geology
The island of
El Hierro
El Hierro, nicknamed ''Isla del Meridiano'' (the "Meridian Island"), is the second-smallest and farthest-south and -west of the Canary Islands (an autonomous community of Spain), in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa, with a populatio ...
is the youngest of the
archipelago
An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands.
Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...
and is around 3 million years old. Its present shape is derived from the
erosion
Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...
on its volcanic cone.
Environment
Malpaso slopes host woods and
heath
A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler ...
s with relevant samples of Canary Islands juniper (
Juniperus cedrus
''Juniperus cedrus'', the Canary Islands juniper, is a species of juniper, native to the western Canary Islands (Tenerife, La Palma, Gran Canaria, Gomera) and Madeira (''J. cedrus'' Webb & Berthel. subsp. ''maderensis'' (Menezes) Rivas Mart ''et ...
), some of them said to be more than one thousand years old. The most important animal from a conservationist point of view is
El Hierro giant lizard
The El Hierro giant lizard (''Gallotia simonyi machadoi'') is a subspecies of lacertid (wall lizard) that can be found on the island of El Hierro, one of the Canary Islands. It is considered to be a subspecies of ''Gallotia simonyi'', Simony ...
(
in Spanish ''lagarto Salmor''), an endangered species of reptile.
See also
*
List of European ultra prominent peaks
This is a list of all the mountains in Europe with ultra-prominent peaks with topographic prominence greater than . The column "Col" denotes the highest elevation to which one must descend from a peak in order to reach peaks with higher elevations; ...
References
Bibliography
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Malpaso, Pico de
El Hierro
Mountains of the Canary Islands
Volcanoes of the Canary Islands
One-thousanders of Spain