The topographical relief of Spain is characterized by being quite high, with an average altitude of 660 meters above sea level, quite mountainous compared to other European countries and only surpassed by Switzerland, Austria, Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia and the microstates of Andorra and Liechtenstein. In peninsular Spain, the terrain is articulated around a large Meseta Central (central plateau) that occupies most of the center of the Iberian Peninsula. Outside the plateau, there is the depression of the Guadalquivir river, located in the southwest of the peninsula, and the Ebro river depression, located in the northeast.

The mountain systems of Spain are very numerous and occupy almost half of the national territory. The Pyrenees (in the northeastern limit) and the Baetic System (in the southeast) are the highest mountain ranges, located outside the Meseta Central. Surrounding this is the Cantabrian Range in the north, the Iberian System in the east, and the Sierra Morena in the south. Within the Meseta Central is the Sistema Central and Montes de Toledo.

Two archipelagos of geographic interest belong to Spain: the Balearic Islands, located in the Mediterranean Sea, with a latitude similar to that of Castilla-La Mancha; and the Canary Islands, seven islands of volcanic origin located in the Atlantic Ocean, close to the coast of Western Sahara; and of less importance: the island of Alborán between Spain and Morocco and the Columbretes Islands in Castellón. Also from Spain are some small coastal enclaves in North Africa: the cities of Ceuta and Melilla, the Chafarinas Islands, the Peñon de Alhucemas and the Peñon de Velez de la Gomera.

The Spanish coast, bathed by the Atlantic Ocean and the Cantabrian and Mediterranean Seas, has a great diversity of beaches, cliffs and rias. The high (presence of cliffs and wave-cut platform) and articulated coast (presence of rias and capes) is the most predominant in the north and the Canary Islands, while the low coast (presence of beaches and coves) is typical of the south, the Mediterranean and the Balearic Islands.

Geological evolution of the Iberian Peninsula Spain has a great variety of landscapes, with the existence of large mountains and depressions, the mountains can be steep or smooth. The terrain is also influenced by the massive and not very articulated shape of the peninsula, the coasts lack projections and have a high average altitude. There is a mountainous belt that surrounds the peninsula and makes access to the interior difficult.

Lithology

Siliceous Spain: these are the oldest materials. There are three types of rocks: granite (plutonic), slate (easily eroded) and quartzite (metamorphic), much harder and more resistant than slate, of which there is a variant called Armorican quartzite. Limestone Spain: these are more recent materials than the siliceous ones. It is formed by carbonates and is made up of large sedimentary packages from the Mesozoic Era that were folded at the beginning of the Cenozoic Era. They are composed of calcium carbonate and are characterized by their high solubility. The type of landscape is karstic, very influenced by water erosion in this type of lithology. We find different morphologies: dolines, karstic hills belonging to the alpine regions, etc. Clayey Spain: these are the newest materials (Cenozoic era and Quaternary period). They are sedimentary and have not been folded. The predominant material is clay to which other materials are added.

Geological structure

From the beginning of the Paleozoic Era there was a continent that geologists have called Gondwana, with contours different from those of today's African continent, but from which this continent actually derives. To the north, at the same time, the continent that we can call Paleo-Europe, from which today's Europe would later derive, extended at the same time. And between both continents there was a sea much wider and deeper than the present Mediterranean, the ologistsas' cient Tethys.

At the end of the Paleozoic Era, tectonic and orogenic movements took place, known as the Hercynian orogeny (or Hercynian folding), of great intensity. After them, the western territories of the Peninsula acquired a physiognomy similar to the present one. To the north, east and south, the Tethys sea extended. The topographical relief thus formed took the Armorican direction (name of the ancient French Brittany) from NW-SE.

Hercynian folding affected large masses of sediments that were transformed into slates, quartzites and granitic formations. All this magmatic activity also gave rise to veins of minerals such as lead, mercury, pyrite, etc., which are the main basis of the peninsula's mineral wealth. This movement affected all of Europe and gave rise, among others, to the Massif Central and the Black Forest.

In this surface (western territories of the Peninsula), known as Paleozoic basement, silica is currently predominant, the most common expression of which is quartz. The overall area forms what is known as siliceous Spain.

The Mesozoic Era was of orogenic calmness, characterized by the erosion of what already existed, and sedimentation of materials in the different marine trenches.

The alpine folding stage occurs in the Cenozoic era, with strong pressures that fold the materials; the barriers that had been created in the Hercynian orogeny will have a capping effect on these forces. These pressures will fold the more modern materials, which are of a soft nature, and the older materials will break. With these strong pressures, the Pyrenees were formed, the Meseta was fractured and gave rise to the Sierra Morena, the Cantabrian Range and the Iberian System, after several million years the Baetic Systems were formed and the Balearic Islands emerged. Alpine foredeep were also formed, which are depressions that precede the mountain ranges and will be filled with materials.

At the end of the Cenozoic era, the current peninsula will be almost completed. In the post-Alpine period there will be deformations that will give rise to groupings, a consequence of the Alpine orogeny. The continental masses try to reach an equilibrium and release the accumulated tensions. These subsequent and associated processes are called morphological tectonics and are vertical movements.

From the Neogene period there have been three posthumous movements: the first one is the bulging of the plateau that tilts westward, derived from this, there are a series of thrusts from the east that cause the basement to also tilts towards the Atlantic, and the third phase is a series of movements of vertical origin that raise the alpine mountain ranges (Sistema Central and Montes de Toledo).

In the Quaternary period there are changes in the landscape, which are eustatic movements that affect the sea level. There are both rises and falls, with glacialism origin. Volcanic phenomena also appear in fragmented areas or faults such as Olot and La Mancha. In addition, rivers take the current configuration and begin their erosion.

Finally, there are the morphogenetic systems that give rise to the current relief, referring to the climatic, erosive, chemical and mechanical aspects that affect the terrain and are linked to tectonics. Glaciations also had an influence (in the highest parts), together with water and wind.

One form is the glacial cirque, a kind of circular depression under the influence of ice that occurs at higher altitudes and gives rise to a series of ice tongues called moraines that emerge from the highest part of the mountain and run through the valley to the base; if it fits between mountains and carves a valley in the shape of a "U" it is called a trough. This is very common in the Pyrenees and higher areas.

Another type of modeling occurs in the lower elevations, the periglacial domain, which is very common in interglacial periods. The most important forms of modeling are hydrofracturing and solifluction, which in turn alter the processes of fluvial erosion: in the coldest phases the rivers will have less flow than in the thaw when they increase their erosive force and form the cliffs.

Peninsular relief Main peaks and mountains of SpainNameMountain rangeAltitude (m.a.s.l.)01Pico TeideTenerife Island02Pico MulhacénSierra Nevada03Pico AnetoPyrenees04Pico del VeletaSierra Nevada05Pico PosetsPyrenees06Pico AlcazabaSierra Nevada07Monte PerdidoPyrenees08Pico MalditoPyrenees09Pico MarboréPyrenees10Pico de la MaladetaPyreneesSource: General Directorate of the National Geographic Institute (Spain)

Peninsular Spain has a surface area of 493,458 km2 (97.53% of the national territory) and its coastline measures a total of approximately 4600 km. The average altitude is 660 meters above sea level, and the maximum width of the peninsula is 1094 km. The terrain is characterized by the abundance of mountain systems, since almost half of the surface is rugged. The Meseta Central is the main element of the terrain because it is located in the center of the country, occupies a large area and around it the mountain ranges and depressions are articulated.

The highest mountain ranges are the Baetic System, the Pyrenees, the Cantabrian Range and the Sistema Central. The Iberian System, the Catalan Mediterranean System, the Montes de Toledo and the Sierra Morena make up mid-mountain areas, the most abundant in rugged areas. The flat areas are made up of the Meseta Central, the Ebro and the Guadalquivir depressions, and the coastal plains of the Mediterranean coast. The seas that bathe the Spanish coast are the Mediterranean Sea to the northeast, east, southeast and south, with the Cantabrian Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the northwest and southwest.

The Spanish territory also presents a great natural and human diversity, which is given by the variety of the terrain and the climatic contrasts caused by it, which determine different types of vegetation, water and soil. This variety of the physical environment means an unequal distribution of natural resources in space and, consequently, of human economic activities, giving rise to a great plurality of human landscapes.

Meseta Central

The topographical relief of the Iberian Peninsula is articulated around a large central unit, the Meseta Central, with an average altitude of 650 meters above sea level. This is located in the center of the Iberian Peninsula, in the autonomous communities of Castilla y León, Madrid, Castilla-La Mancha, the eastern half of Extremadura and the southwest of Aragon, and is slightly inclined to the Atlantic Ocean. The main rivers flowing through the plateau are the Douro, the Tagus and the Guadiana, all of which flow westward. The Central system divides the Meseta Central into two submesetas: the Submeseta Norte (Northern Subplateau) and the Submeseta Sur (Southern Subplateau).

The Submeseta Norte is located exclusively in Castilla y León and has an average altitude of 700 meters above sea level. It borders in the south with the Sierra de Gata and Sierra de Gredos, and in the southeast with the Sierra de Guadarrama and Sierra de Ayllón, all of them belonging to the Sistema Central. In its east-northeast limit is the Iberian system, and in the north it limits with the Cantabrian Range. The whole submeseta belongs to the Douro river basin, which flows from east to west.