Sierra de Cucalón is a long system of mountain ranges in
Aragon
Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces of Spain, ...
,
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
, located between the
comarcas of
Jiloca and
Cuencas Mineras.
Geography
These mountains are part of 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 ...
and are often covered with
snow
Snow consists of individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes.
It consists of frozen crystalline water througho ...
in the winter. Rivers
Huerva
The Huerva River is a river in Aragon, Spain. It is a tributary of the Ebro. Its mean annual discharge is only .
Course
This long river rises in the Sierra de Cucalón, near Fonfría, Teruel, Fonfría in the Jiloca Comarca. Flowing northwestward ...
and
Martín have their source in these ranges.
The Ermita de la Virgen de Pelarda is located in the Pelarda range, close to
Olalla.
Subranges
Two main ranges run parallel to each other, the northern one is Sierra de Oriche, also known as "Las Rochas", and the southern one, smoother and covered with forest, as Sierra de Pelarda or Sierra de la Pelarda (also known as "Sierra de Fonfría" after the town of
Fonfría in its central section) extending eastwards as Sierra Pedregosa.
This whole system of mountain ranges is named after the town of
Cucalón, located at the western end.
The ridge's highest summits are Pelarda (1,517 m), in Sierra de Pelarda, and La Modorra (1,478 m), located at the NW end of the Sierra de Oriche. Other important summits are El Marujal (1,486 m), Cerro del Ortigal (1,429 m), Alto del Puerto de Fonfría (1,501 m), La Rocha (1,340 m) and La Retuerta (1,492 m). All main peaks are inconspicuous except for La Modorra.
Ecology
The Sierra de Pelarda mountains are covered with forest made up
pine
A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae.
''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...
, ''Carrasca'' (''
Quercus ilex
''Quercus ilex'', the holly oak, also (ambiguously, as many oaks are evergreen) evergreen oak, is a large evergreen oak native to the Mediterranean region. It is a member of the section (botany), section ''List of Quercus species#Section Ilex, Il ...
''),
cork oak
''Quercus suber'', commonly called the cork oak, is a medium-sized, evergreen oak tree in the section Quercus sect. Cerris, ''Quercus'' sect. ''Cerris''. It is the primary source of cork (material), cork for wine bottle stoppers and other uses, ...
, and
juniper
Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' ( ) of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere as far south ...
trees.
Guía general de las sierras de Cucalón, Oriche y Fonfría
/ref> There are many endangered species living in these relatively uninhabited mountains, far from human intervention.
Features
File:La Modorra34.JPG, View of La Modorra from Lanzuela
File:La-pelarda14.JPG, View of Sierra de Pelarda from Bea
File:Sabinar Olalla 2.jpg, Juniper
Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' ( ) of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere as far south ...
trees and garbage near Olalla
References
External links
*
Sierra de Cucalón
Santuario de la Virgen de Pelarda
Cucalon
Cucalon
{{Aragon-geo-stub