| Baetic System | |
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Mulhacén in the winter
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| Country | Spain and little bit in Gibraltar (UK) |
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| Region | mostly Andalusia, small part in Murcia, little bit in Valencian Community, little bit in Gibraltar (only Rock) |
| Part of | Gibraltar Arc |
| Highest point | Mulhacén |
| - elevation | 3,478 m (11,411 ft) |
| Orogeny | Alpine Orogeny |
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Map of the Baetic System in Andalusia
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The Baetic System (Spanish: Sistema Bético) is the main (together Pyrenees) system of mountain ranges in Spain. Located in southern and eastern Spain, it is also known as the Baetic Cordillera, Baetic Ranges or Baetic Mountains. The name of the mountain system derives from the ancient Roman region of Baetica, one of the Imperial Roman provinces of the Iberian Peninsula.
The Baetic System is made up of multiple mountain ranges that reach from western Andalusia to Murcia and Valencia. Generally the mountain ranges that are part of this system are aligned in a southwest-northeast direction.[1] The most well-known range of the Baetic System is the Sierra Nevada, where the Mulhacén, the highest mountain in continental Spain and in the Iberian Peninsula is found.
The Rock of Gibraltar is also considered to be part of the Baetic System[2]. To the north, the Baetic Ranges are separated from the Meseta Central and the Sierra Morena by the basin of the Guadalquivir. The Iberian System rises north of the eastern part of the Prebaetic System, the northernmost prolongation of the Baetic System.
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The Baetic System as a geological feature belongs to a larger orogen usually called Gibraltar Arc, which represents the westernmost edge of the Alpine Orogeny. The geodynamic mechanisms responsible for its formation are so far relatively unknown.[3]
The Gibraltar Arc geological region follows the Moroccan coast from Oujda in the east to Tanger in the west, then crosses the Strait of Gibraltar and goes east again from Cádiz to Valencia and the Balearic Islands.
The Baetic System is home to a number of Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub plant communities, including shrublands, oak woodlands, broadleaf forests, and coniferous forests, which vary with elevation, soils, and topography.
The Baetic System, together with the Rif Mountains of Morocco, which face the Baetic Ranges across the Alboran Sea, is one of the Mediterranean basin's ten biodiversity hotspots, known to ecologists as the Baetic-Rifan complex. The Baetic mountains are home to a rich assemblage of Mediterranean plants, including a number of relict species from the ancient laurel forests, which covered much of the Mediterranean basin millions of years ago when it was more humid.
The Baetic System is divided into the following sub-chains:
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