The Sierra de Tejeda is a mountain range in the Penibaetic System of mountains between the provinces of

Málaga Málaga (; ) is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 591,637 in 2024, it is the second-most populo ...

and

Granada Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...

in Spain. Together with the Sierra de Almijara to the east and the Sierra de Alhama to the west it constitutes a limestone massif that acts as a physical border between the two provinces, separating the

Axarquía Axarquía () is a in the province of Málaga, Andalusia in southern Spain. It is the wedge-shaped area east of Málaga. Its name is traced back to Arabic (, meaning "the eastern egion). It extends along the coast and inland. Its coastal towns m ...

from the depression of Granada. The mountains contain the Sierras of Tejeda, Almijara and Alhama Natural Park.

Location

The Sierra de Tejeda is a small mountain range running in a northwest to southeast direction. It lies in the east of the

and the southwest of the

. It covers an area of . The Sierre de Tejeda lies to the southeast of the Sierra de Alhama and to the northwest of the Sierra de Almijara. The Sierras of Tejida and Almijara form a single range about west of the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...

. The mountains form part of a barrier between the coast and the interior. The name "''Tejeda" refers to the abundance of ''

Taxus baccata ''Taxus baccata'' is a species of evergreen tree in the family (botany), family Taxaceae, native to Western Europe, Central Europe and Southern Europe, as well as Northwest Africa, and parts of Southwest Asia.Rushforth, K. (1999). ''Trees of Bri ...

'', or ''tejos'' (yew) trees in the past.. There are a few remnants of these pines on La Maroma, including one at the Salto del Caballo near the peak. A small group is found in the upper part of the Barranco del Cañuelo in the municipality of Alcaucín.

Geology

The Sierra de Tejeda is in the central section of the Betic Range of Southern Spain. This part of the Betic cordilla has folds verging southwards from the

Burdigalian The Burdigalian is, in the geologic timescale, an age (geology), age or stage (stratigraphy), stage in the early Miocene. It spans the time between 20.43 ± 0.05 annum, Ma and 15.97 ± 0.05 Ma (million years ago). Preceded by the Aquitanian (sta ...

age. The folds are cut by WSW-directed faults caused by extensional detachments in the Sierra de Tejeda

anticline In structural geology, an anticline is a type of Fold (geology), fold that is an arch-like shape and has its oldest Bed (geology), beds at its core, whereas a syncline is the inverse of an anticline. A typical anticline is convex curve, c ...

, and the fault surfaces are in turn cut by later NNW-directed faults from the

Tortonian The Tortonian is in the geologic time scale an age or stage of the late Miocene that spans the time between 11.608 ± 0.005 Ma and 7.246 ± 0.005 Ma (million years ago). It follows the Serravallian and is followed by the Messinian. The Tort ...

age. The most common rock in the Sierra Tejeda is

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

. The rocks belong to the Alpujarride complex. They include Middle and

Late Miocene The Late Miocene (also known as Upper Miocene) is a sub-epoch of the Miocene epoch (geology), Epoch made up of two faunal stage, stages. The Tortonian and Messinian stages comprise the Late Miocene sub-epoch, which lasted from 11.63 Ma (million ye ...

deposits up to thick of conglomerates, sands and bioclastic

calcarenite Calcarenite is a type of limestone that is composed predominantly, more than 50 percent, of detrital (transported) sand-size (0.0625 to 2 mm in diameter), Carbonate rock, carbonate grains. The grains consist of sand-size grains of either cor ...

s. The bioclastic calcarenites contain

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...

cobbles and boulders up to in diameter. The Sierra Almijara and Sierra Tejeda form the southern margin of the western part of the depression of Granada, and contain tributaries of the

Cacín River The Cacín River () is a river in Andalusia, Spain. It is supplied by streams flowing north from the Sierra de Almijara and Sierra de Tejeda into the Granada Basin. The river originates in the Los Bermejales Reservoir, and flows north to join the ...

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.581884 Andalusian earthquake had an estimated magnitude of 6.5. There were 745 deaths, and the villages of Arenas del Rey, Ventas de Zafarraya and

Alhama de Granada Alhama de Granada is a town in the province of Granada (province), Granada, approx. 50 km from the city of Granada. The name is derived from the Hot spring, thermal baths located there, which are called ''al-hammah'' in Arabic language, Ar ...

were almost completely destroyed. The epicenter was on the northern side of the Sierra Tejeda near Ventas de Zefarraya, with a focus deep. The pioneering geologist José Macpherson y Hemas (1839–1902) explained the earthquake as having been caused by movement along the faults that bound the Tejeda / Almijara massif to the north and south. Others thought the cause might have been the collapse of underground cavities.

Pico Tejeda

The peak of Tejeda (La Maroma) is high, and commands dramatic views of the surrounding mountains and the Mediterranean coast. The Pico Tejeda, commonly called La Maroma, is also known as the "roof of Málaga". The name is derived from a large and deep cavity near the top. Ropes (maromas) were used to climb down into it to collect snow. The mountain can be climbed by several routes, of which the most traditional starts from the center of Canillas de Aceituno. Other routes start from the Alcázar recreational area and from the Llanadas de Sedella in the municipality of Alcaucín. One of the simplest routes is on its north face in the territory of

, starting from the El Robledal recreational area.

Climate

The mountains have relatively high levels of rainfall, with highest rainfall in December, January and March, and lowest in July. Annual rainfall is in Alcaucín. At an altitude of the annual average precipitation is slightly more than . The Sierre de Tejeda receives a total of of rainfall in an average year. Annual average temperature at the Pantano de los Bermejales station at the foot of the Sierra is about . Higher in the mountains the temperatures range from . The flora are mostly

xeric Deserts and xeric shrublands are a biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Deserts and xeric (Ancient Greek 'dry') shrublands form the largest terrestrial biome, covering 19% of Earth's land surface area. Ecoregions in this habita ...

. There are many plant species common to the western Sierra Nevada and the Tejeda/Almijara range, which may have migrated between these regions via the intermediate Sierra de las Guájaras.

Human presence

The early hominids in the region would have moved from caves on the coast to caves in the Sierra de Tejeda on a seasonal basis. The 40,000 year old bones of a Neanderthal man have been found in the Boquete de Zafarraya cave in Alcaucín, in a spur of the Sierra de Alhama just west of the Sierra de Tejeda. Canillas de Aceituno is at the foot of the Sierra, at an altitude of , in the region between the marbles of the Sierra de Tejeda and the

schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock generally derived from fine-grained sedimentary rock, like shale. It shows pronounced ''schistosity'' (named for the rock). This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a l ...

land lower down in the slopes of the Almanchares river basin. The Fajara cave was used in the Neolithic era, and the Rábita cave shows evidence of iron ore extraction in Roman times. Three bridges on the slopes of the sierra in the towns of Sedella, Salares and Canillas de Albaida are said to have a Roman origin, although their appearance today is medieval.

Notes

Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tejeda, Sierra de Tejeda Tejeda Landforms of the Province of Granada Landforms of the Province of Málaga