Montes Universales

Montes Universales is a 32 km (20 mi) long mountain range in the southeastern end of the Iberian System. Its highest point is the 1,935 m high summit known as Caimodorro. The 1,830 m high Muela de San Juan is another important peak.

Montes Universales
View of the Montes Universales near Guadalaviar town
Highest point
Elevation1,935 m (6,348 ft)
ListingList of mountains in Aragon
Coordinates40°22′30″N 1°44′23″W 
Geography
Montes Universales
Spain
LocationSierra de Albarracín Comarca, Aragon
Parent rangeIberian System, Southern zone
Geology
Mountain typeKarstic (Mesozoic)
Climbing
Easiest routeFrom the towns of Guadalaviar or Villar del Cobo

Administratively, the Montes Universales belong to the Sierra de Albarracín comarca of Aragon, therefore there are often confused with the geographical Sierra de Albarracín mountain range.[1]

Geography

The range, which is aligned in a NW - SE direction, is not as high as neighboring ranges. It is, however, very significant from the hydrographic point of view, for important rivers of the Iberian Peninsula have their source in these mountains, which divide the Atlantic from the Mediterranean watershed. Among the Iberian rivers that originate in the Montes Universales, the most important are the Tagus on the western slopes, and the Túria, Cabriel and Xúquer on the eastern.

The Montes Universales are bordered by the paleozoic massifs of Caimodorro and Loma Alta in the northeast, by the Serranía de Cuenca in the southeast, and by the Sierra de Jabalón and the Túria Valley in the east.

Flora and fauna

These mountains are covered with, mostly not very dense, clumps of pine, oak and Iberian juniper forest.

Radiocarbon samples from Ojos del Tremedal show that birches, now almost absent from these mountains, were very common in the Montes Universales during the ice age around 9,600 years ago. Signs of human interference with the vegetation have been detected beginning about 3,500 years Before Present.[2]

Zapater's ringlet (Erebia zapateri), is an endemic butterfly of these mountains.[3]

Features

See also

References
  1. Universales, Montes - Enciclopedia aragonesa
  2. The Holocene forest history of the Montes Universales, Teruel, Spain (in English)
  3. Erebia zapateri - Zapater's Ringlet
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