Sierra Norte de Sevilla or Sierra Norte (Northern Range) is one of the western

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...

s of the

Sierra Morena The Sierra Morena is one of the main systems of mountain ranges in Spain. It stretches for 450 kilometres from east to west across the south of the Iberian Peninsula, forming the southern border of the ''Meseta Central'' plateau and providi ...

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...

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 name derives from its location at the northern part of Sevilla Province. The highest point of the range is the 960 m high

Cerro de La Capitana Cerro is Spanish for "hill" or "mountain". Toponyms ;Bolivia: * Cerro Rico, the "Rich Mountain" containing silver ore near Potosi, Bolivia ;Brazil: *Cerro Branco, a municipality of Rio Grande do Sul *Cerro Grande, Rio Grande do Sul, a municipa ...

. This range gives its name to an administrative comarca in the region, the Sierra Norte Comarca, as well as to the wine of the area, the Vino de la Tierra Sierra Norte de Sevilla.

Description

The Sierra Norte is not very high and its mountains have generally a rounded shape except for the occasional

karstic Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ro ...

crags. 962 m high ''Cerro de La Capitana'' is the highest point of the range. The

Odiel The Odiel ( es, Río Odiel) is a river in the Atlantic basin in southern Spain, more precisely in the province of Huelva, Andalusia. It originates at Marimateos in the Sierra de Aracena at an elevation of above sea level. At the Punta del Seb ...

and Murtigas are the main rivers in the area of the range. The Sierra Norte is properly a

massif In geology, a massif ( or ) is a section of a planet's crust that is demarcated by faults or flexures. In the movement of the crust, a massif tends to retain its internal structure while being displaced as a whole. The term also refers to a ...

that includes the subranges of Sierra del Agua, highest point 910 m high

Pico Hamapega Pico may refer to: Places The Moon * Mons Pico, a lunar mountain in the northern part of the Mare Imbrium basin Portugal * Pico, a civil parish in the municipality of Vila Verde * Pico da Pedra, a civil parish in the municipality of Ribei ...

, the

Sierra de La Grana Sierra (Spanish for "mountain range" and "saw", from Latin '' serra'') may refer to the following: Places Mountains and mountain ranges * Sierra de Juárez, a mountain range in Baja California, Mexico * Sierra de las Nieves, a mountain range i ...

at the edge of the Plains of Guadalcanal, and the

Sierra de San Miguel Sierra (Spanish for "mountain range" and "saw", from Latin '' serra'') may refer to the following: Places Mountains and mountain ranges * Sierra de Juárez, a mountain range in Baja California, Mexico * Sierra de las Nieves, a mountain range i ...

. The climate is less humid than in the

Sierra de Aracena Sierra de Aracena is the westernmost mountain range of the Sierra Morena, Andalusia, Spain. It is located in the northern part of Huelva Province. The range is named after the town of Aracena. Description The Sierra de Aracena is not very high an ...

further west. Holm oaks are more common, growing in clarified forests where there are also large clearings, known locally as ''

dehesa A ''dehesa'' () is a multifunctional, agrosylvopastoral system (a type of agroforestry) and cultural landscape of southern and central Spain and southern Portugal; in Portugal, it is known as a ''montado''. Its name comes from the Latin 'defens ...

s''. These are characteristic of the Sierra Morena landscape and are traditional pasture zones for cattle and pigs. Also typical are the

gallery forests A gallery forest is one formed as a corridor along rivers or wetlands, projecting into landscapes that are otherwise only sparsely treed such as savannas, grasslands, or deserts. The gallery forest maintains a more temperate microclimate above th ...

shading the rivers of the range that provide a home to birds such as the

Spanish imperial eagle The Spanish imperial eagle (''Aquila adalberti''), also known as the Spanish eagle or Adalbert's eagle, is a species of eagle native to the Iberian Peninsula. The binomial commemorates Prince Adalbert of Bavaria. Due to its distinct “epaulet ...

, the

cinereous vulture The cinereous vulture (''Aegypius monachus'') is a large raptor in the family Accipitridae and distributed through much of temperate Eurasia. It is also known as the black vulture, monk vulture and Eurasian black vulture. With a body length of , ...

and the

black stork The black stork (''Ciconia nigra'') is a large bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his ''Systema Naturae''. Measuring on average from beak tip to end of tail with a wingspan, t ...

. ''Cerro del Hierro'' (iron hillock) is an interesting karstic site within the range which has been declared a

natural monument A natural monument is a natural or natural/cultural feature of outstanding or unique value because of its inherent rarity, representative of aesthetic qualities or cultural significance. Under World Commission on Protected Areas guidelines, nat ...

Geology

The geological structure of the Sierra Norte is quite complex. It includes terrain similar to the

geology of the Appalachians The geology of the Appalachians dates back to more than 480 million years ago. A look at rocks exposed in today's Appalachian Mountains reveals elongate belts of folded and thrust faulted marine sedimentary rocks, volcanic rocks and slivers of ...

, together with

granitic A granitoid is a generic term for a diverse category of coarse-grained igneous rocks that consist predominantly of quartz, plagioclase, and alkali feldspar. Granitoids range from plagioclase-rich tonalites to alkali-rich syenites and from quart ...

terrain,

tabular Table may refer to: * Table (furniture), a piece of furniture with a flat surface and one or more legs * Table (landform), a flat area of land * Table (information), a data arrangement with rows and columns * Table (database), how the table data ...

sheet intrusion A sheet intrusion, or tabular intrusion, is a planar sheet of roughly the same thickness, that forms inside a pre-existing rock.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Ed, Stephen Marshak When it cuts into another unlayered mass, or across layers, it is called ...

s, as well as

and

pure shear In mechanics and geology, pure shear is a three-dimensional homogeneous flattening of a body. It is an example of irrotational strain in which body is elongated in one direction while being shortened perpendicularly. For soft materials, such as rub ...

Protected areas

The Sierra Norte de Sevilla Natural Park is a

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

with natural park status located in the Sierra Norte range.Parque Natural Sierra Norte de Sevilla
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References

{{reflist

External links

GDR Sierra Morena SevillanaSierra Norte de Sevilla, Guia del Parque
Sierra Morena Geography of the Province of Seville Mountain ranges of Andalusia

Description

Geology

Protected areas

See also

References

External links