The Sulcis Mountains ( it, Monti del Sulcis) is a mountain chain in

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. Together with the Monte Linas massif, from which they are separated by the flood plain of the Cixerri River, they form the Sulcis-Iglesiente Mountains, one of the most ancient geological formations in the island.

Geology

The Sulcis Mountains geological structure is rather intricated, due to their very ancient origin which, in the first formations, dates to more than 600 million years ago ( Cambrian period). Their age is also shown by the rather mild nature of the reliefs, with a few peaks over 1000 m of altitude, presenting what remains of the superficial

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 dis ...

which has partly left untouched the magmatic intrusions and the

metamorphic rock Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism. The original rock ( protolith) is subjected to temperatures greater than and, often, elevated pressure of or more, caus ...

s originated before the

Variscan orogeny The Variscan or Hercynian orogeny was a geologic mountain-building event caused by Late Paleozoic continental collision between Euramerica (Laurussia) and Gondwana to form the supercontinent of Pangaea. Nomenclature The name ''Variscan'', comes f ...

. The western side of the chain has been made rather mild by the erosion and flood processes, with modest altitude reliefs. The inner and eastern sectors are sharper and more irregular, with numerous reliefs and narrow valleys. The western side contains the oldest formations from the Cambrian, consisting in sedimentary depots of marine origin, later subject to metamorphic phenomena. Here Karst topography is also present (Is Zuddas Grottoes). Most of the sedimentary formations from the Carboniferous to the

Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last ...

underwent to metamorphic processes in the Variscan Orogeny, and to the intrusion of granitic marbles. The post-Variscan erosion and the tectonic lifts of the Cenozoic caused the appearance of magmatic (

leucogranite Leucogranite is a light-colored, granitic, igneous rock containing almost no dark minerals. Alaskite is a synonym.schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock showing pronounced schistosity. This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a low-power hand lens, oriented in such a way that the rock is easily split into thin flakes ...

s) intrusions which made the eastern sector more heterogeneous. The plateau-like formations at the feet of the chain have a double origin: on the western side are the most ancient ones (Cenozoic), formed by flood depots and, partly, by lava; on the eastern and south-easters sides are instead small flood depots from the Quaternary.

Main peaks

* Monte Is Caravius (1116 m) * Monte Tiriccu (1105 m) *Punta Sa Cruxitta (1093 m) *Monte Sa Mirra (1087 m) * Monte Lattias (1086 m) *Monte Nieddu (1040 m) *Monte Maxia (1017 m) *Sa Punta Sa Berrita de Currei (1008 m) *Punta Rocca Steria (1008 m) *Punta Sebera (979 m) * Monte Genna Spina (970 m) *Punta Allimeddus (966 m) *

Monte Arcosu Monte Arcosu is a mountain in the Sulcis massif, in southern Sardinia, Italy. It has an elevation of . The mountain has a characteristically truncated cone shape, resulting from the differential erosion which followed its formation during the ...

(948 m)

Sources

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sulcis Mountain ranges of Italy Mountains of Sardinia