The Sulcis Mountains () is a mountain chain in

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. Together with the

Monte Linas Monte Linas is a massif in the province of South Sardinia, in south-western Sardinia, Italy. It is mostly composed of granite, and includes numerous mineral deposits, such as zinc and lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol ...

massif, from which they are separated by the

flood plain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...

of the Cixerri River, they form the Sulcis-Iglesiente Mountains, one of the most ancient geological formations in the island.

Geology

The geology of the Sulcis Mountains is rather complex, due to their very ancient origin, dating to more than 600 million years ago, before the

Cambrian The Cambrian ( ) is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 51.95 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran period 538.8 Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Ordov ...

period. Their advanced age is also evident in the subdued nature of their relief, with just a few peaks over 1000m in elevation. Most of the chain’s surviving geological record consists of magmatic

intrusion In geology, an igneous intrusion (or intrusive body or simply intrusion) is a body of intrusive igneous rock that forms by crystallization of magma slowly cooling below the surface of the Earth. Intrusions have a wide variety of forms and com ...

s and

metamorphic rock Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism. The original rock ( protolith) is subjected to temperatures greater than and, often, elevated pressure of or more, caus ...

s whose protoliths were deposited prior to the

Variscan orogeny The Variscan orogeny, or Hercynian orogeny, was a geologic mountain-building event caused by Late Paleozoic continental collision between Euramerica (Laurussia) and Gondwana to form the supercontinent of Pangaea. Nomenclature The name ''Varis ...

and are now exposed at the surface after millions of years of

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as Surface runoff, water flow or wind) that removes soil, Rock (geology), rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust#Crust, Earth's crust and then sediment transport, tran ...

and unroofing. The western side of the chain, more affected by erosion and flood processes, is modest in relief and elevation and characterized by more subdued topography, while the inner and eastern sectors feature sharper and more irregular topography, with extensive relief and steep, narrow valleys. The western side contains the oldest formations, dating from the Cambrian, which consist of originally sedimentary rocks of marine origin, which were later

metamorphosed Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism. The original rock (protolith) is subjected to temperatures greater than and, often, elevated pressure of or more, causi ...

Karst topography Karst () is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone and Dolomite (rock), dolomite. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground. Ther ...

is also present in the western sector (). Most of the chain’s sedimentary protoliths dating from the

Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a Geologic time scale, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era that spans 60 million years, from the end of the Devonian Period Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the ...

to the

Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years, from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.902 Mya. It is the s ...

were either regionally or thermally metamorphosed during the

or by the intrusion of syn- and post-orogenic Variscan and later, Cenozoic

granitic A granitoid is a broad term referring to a diverse group of coarse-grained igneous rocks that are widely distributed across the globe, covering a significant portion of the Earth's exposed surface and constituting a large part of the continental ...

plutons, respectively. Post-Variscan erosion and tectonic uplift during

Cenozoic The Cenozoic Era ( ; ) is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterized by the dominance of mammals, insects, birds and angiosperms (flowering plants). It is the latest of three g ...

time led to the unroofing and exposure of magmatic

leucogranite Leucogranite is a light-colored, granitic, igneous rock containing almost no dark minerals. Leucogranites have been reported from a variety of orogenies involving continental collisions. Examples include the Black Hills (Trans-Hudson orogeny ...

s and metamorphic

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 ...

s, which has ultimately resulted in the eastern sector being more geologically heterogeneous. The plateau-like formations found at the feet of the chain have a dual origin: those on the western side are more ancient, consisting of flood deposits and, partly, lavas from the Cenozoic, while those on the eastern and south-eastern sides consist of small flood deposits from the

Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), as well as the current and most recent of the twelve periods of the ...

Main peaks

* Monte Is Caravius (1116 m) * Monte Tiriccu (1105 m) *Punta Sa Cruxitta (1093 m) *Monte Sa Mirra (1087 m) * Monte Lattias (1086 m) *Monte Nieddu (1040 m) *Monte Maxia (1017 m) *Sa Punta Sa Berrita de Currei (1008 m) *Punta Rocca Steria (1008 m) *Punta Sebera (979 m) * Monte Genna Spina (970 m) *Punta Allimeddus (966 m) *

Monte Arcosu Monte Arcosu is a mountain in the Sulcis massif, in southern Sardinia, Italy. It has an elevation of . The mountain has a characteristically truncated cone shape, resulting from the differential erosion which followed its formation during the ...

(948 m)

Sources

*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sulcis Mountain ranges of Italy Mountains of Sardinia