Pyrenees
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Pyrenees (Spanish: Pirineos; French: Pyrénées; Catalan: Pirineus; Occitan: Pirenèus; Aragonese: Perinés; Basque: Pirinioak) are a range of mountains in southwest Europe that form a natural border between France and Spain. They separate the Iberian Peninsula from France, and extend for about 430 km (267 mi) from the Atlantic Ocean (Bay of Biscay) to the Mediterranean Sea (Cap de Creus).
For the most part, the main crest forms the Franco-Spanish frontier, with Andorra sandwiched in between. The main exception to this rule is formed by the Val d'Aran, which belongs to Spain but lies on the north face of the range. Other minor orographical anomalies include the Cerdanya fall and the Spanish exclave of Llívia.
The Pyrenees are named after Pyrene (fire in Greek) who was the daughter of Bebryx and was raped by Herakles. Terrified at giving birth to a serpent, she fled to the mountains and was either buried or eaten by wild animals. Herodotus located this legend in his map of the Oikumene as early as 450 BC.
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[edit] Geography
Politically, the Pyrenees are part of the following French départements, from east to west: Pyrénées-Orientales, Aude, Ariège, Haute-Garonne, Hautes-Pyrénées, and Pyrénées-Atlantiques (the latter two of which include Pyrenees National Park).
The Pyrenees are also part of the following Spanish provinces, from east to west: Girona, Barcelona, Lleida, Huesca, Zaragoza, Navarre, and Gipuzkoa.
The whole of the independent principality of Andorra in located in the Pyrenees.
Physically, the Pyrenees are typically divided into three sections: the Central, the Atlantic or Western, and the Eastern.
The Central Pyrenees extend eastward from the Somport pass to the Val d'Aran, and include the highest summits of the range:
- Pico d'Aneto or Pic de Néthou 3,404 m (11,168 ft) in the Maladeta ridge,
- Mont Posets 3,375 m (11,072 ft),
- Mont Perdu or Monte Perdido or Mont Perdut 3,355 m (11,007 ft).
In the Atlantic Pyrenees the average elevation gradually decreases from east to west, until they merge with the Basque mountains near the Bay of Biscay. In the Eastern Pyrenees, with the exception of one break at the eastern extremity of the Pyrénées Ariégeoises, the mean elevation is maintained with remarkable uniformity until a sudden decline occurs in the portion of the chain known as the Albères.
[edit] Geology
The Pyrenees are older than the Alps: their sediments were first deposited in coastal basins during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras. Between 100 and 150 million years ago, during the Lower Cretaceous period, the Gulf of Gascony (Bay of Biscay) fanned out, pushing present-day Spain against France and putting large layers of sediment in a vice grip. The intense pressure and uplifting of the Earth's crust first affected the eastern part and stretched progressively to the entire chain, culminating in the Eocene epoch.
The eastern part of the Pyrenees consists largely of granite and gneissose rocks, while in the western part the granite peaks are flanked by layers of limestone. The massive and unworn character of the chain comes from its abundance of granite, which is particularly resistant to erosion, as well as weak glacial development.
[edit] Landscape
Conspicuous features of Pyrenean scenery are:
- the absence of great lakes, such as fill the lateral valleys of the Alps
- the rarity and great elevation of passes
- the large number of the mountain torrents locally called gaves, which often form lofty waterfalls, surpassed in Europe only by those of Scandinavia
- the frequency with which the upper end of a valley assumes the form of a semicircle of precipitous cliffs, locally called a cirque.
The highest waterfall is that of Gavarnie (462 m or 1,515 ft), at the head of the Gave de Pau; the Cirque de Gavarnie, in the same valley, is perhaps the most famous example of the cirque formation. Low passes are lacking; between the two ends of the range, where the principal roads and the railways run between France and Spain, there are only the Col de la Perche, between the valley of the Têt and the valley of the Segre, and the Col de Somport or Port de Canfranc, on the old Roman road from Saragossa to Oloron-Sainte-Marie.
A particularly notable feature is La Brèche de Roland, a gap in the ridge line, in tradition created by Roland.
[edit] Natural resources
The metallic ores of the Pyrenees are not in general of much importance, though there were considerable iron mines at Vie de Sos in Ariège and at the foot of Canigou in Pyrénées-Orientales. Coal deposits capable of being profitably worked are situated chiefly on the Spanish slopes but the French side has numerous beds of lignite. The open pit of Trimoun (Ariège) is one of the greatest sources of talc in Europe.
Mineral springs are abundant and very remarkable, and especially noteworthy are the hot springs, in which the Alps, on the contrary, are very deficient. The hot springs, among which those of Bagnères-de-Luchon and Eaux-Chaudes may be mentioned, are sulphurous and mostly situated high, near the contact of the granite with the stratified rocks. The lower springs, such as those of Bagnères-de-Bigorre (Hautes-Pyrénées), Rennes-les-Bains (Aude) and Campagne (Aude), are mostly selenitic and not very warm.
[edit] Climate
The amount of the precipitation, including rain and snow, is much greater in the western than in the eastern Pyrenees, which leads to a marked contrast between these sections of the chain in more than one respect. In the first place, the eastern Pyrenees are without glaciers, the quantity of snow falling there being insufficient to lead to their development. The glaciers are confined to the northern slopes of the central Pyrenees, and do not descend, like those of the Alps, far down in the valleys, but have their greatest length in the direction of the mountain chain. They form, in fact, a narrow zone near the crest of the highest mountains. Here, as in the other great mountain ranges of central Europe, there are evidences of a much wider extension of the glaciers during the Ice age. The case of the glacier in the valley of Argelbs in the département of Hautes-Pyrénées is the best-known instance. The snow-line varies in different parts of the Pyrenees from 2700 to 2800 m above sea-level.
[edit] Flora and fauna
A still more marked effect of the preponderance of rainfall in the western half of the chain is seen in the vegetation. The lower mountains in the extreme west are wooded, but the extent of forest declines eastwards, and the eastern Pyrenees are peculiarly wild and barren, all the more since it is in this part of the chain that granitic masses prevail. There is a change, moreover, in the composition of the flora in passing from west to east. In the west the flora, at least in the north, resembles that of central Europe, while in the east it is distinctly Mediterranean in character, though the difference of latitude is only about 1°, on both sides of the chain from the centre whence the Corbières stretch north-eastwards towards the central plateau of France. The Pyrenees are relatively as rich in endemic species as the Alps, and among the most remarkable instances of that endemism is the occurrence of the sole European species of Dioscorea , Dioscorea pyrenaica, at a single high site in the central Pyrenees, and that of the monotypic genus Xatardia, only on a high alpine pass between the Val d'Eynes and Catalonia. The genus most abundantly represented in the range is that of the saxifrages, several species of which are endemic here.
In their fauna also the Pyrenees present some striking instances of endemism. The Pyrenean Desman is found only in some of the streams of the northern slopes of these mountains, the only other member of this genus being confined to the rivers of the Caucasus in southern Russia. The Pyrenean eurpocte (Euproctus pyrenaicus), an endemic cousin of the salamander, also lives in streams and lakes located at high altitudes. Among the other peculiarities of the Pyrenean fauna are blind insects in the caverns of Ariège, the principal genera of which are Anophthalmus and Adelops. The Pyrenean Ibex mysteriously became extinct in January of 2000; the native Pyrenean Brown Bear was hunted to near-extinction in the 1990s but was re-introduced in 1996 when 3 bears were brought from Slovenia. The population has bred successfully and there are now believed to be about 15 brown bears in the central region around Fos, only 4 native ones are still living in Aspe valley.
[edit] Preserved areas
Principal nature reserves and national parks:
- Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici National Park (Spain)
- Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park (Spain)
- Pyrénées National Park (France)
[edit] Demographics and culture
The ethnology, folklore, institutions and history of the Pyrenean region form an interesting study: see Andorra; Aragon; Ariege; Basque Country; Béarn; Catalonia; Navarre; Roussillon. For their history, see also Almogavars, Marca Hispanica.
Spoken in the area are, notably, the spanish, french and catalan. Also spoken, in a minor extent, are occitan, aragonese (Val d'Aran), Basque and portuguese (in Andorra).
[edit] Sports and leisure
Both sides of the Pyrenees are popular spots for winter sports such as alpine skiing and mountaineering.
Pyrena is a mushing competition held in the Pyrenees.
In the summer and autumn, the Pyrenees are featured in two of cycling's grand tours, the Tour de France held annually in July and La Vuelta a España held in September. The stages held in the Pyrenees are often the defining moments of both tours, drawing hundreds of thousands of spectators to the region.
[edit] Ski resorts
Ski resorts in the Pyrenees include
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[edit] Highest summits
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[edit] Famous summits below 3,000 m
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[edit] Trivia
- In the book Scientology: A History of Man, author L. Ron Hubbard referred to the Pyrenees as being the site of the last operating "Martian report station". For more information, see the article on Xenu.
[edit] External link and references
- Flying over the Pyrenees
- Great Routes: Pirineos, from a website of the Instituto de Turismo de España
- (English) Official website of France's Pyrenees National Park
- Photos of Pyrenees from a geodynamics researcher at the University of Washington
- Cycling the French High Pyrenees and Ariege Pyrenees photos and video by steephill.tv bike travelogue
- The Aude and Pyrénées-Orientales Online resource for the Aude & Pyrénées-Orientales departments of the Languedoc-Roussillon.
- Pyrenees Maps Road and street maps of the Pyrenees.
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
