The Sulcis Mountains ( it, Monti del Sulcis) is a mountain chain in

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label= Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label= Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, af ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. 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. Peaks include Perda de sa Mesa (1,236 m), the highest pe ...

massif, from which they are separated by the flood plain of the

Cixerri River The Cixerri () is an Italian river in southern Sardinia province of Cagliari.''The Times'' (2003), ''Comprehensive Atlas of the World'' Eleventh Edition, Times Books, Plate 77 (C9). It springs from Monte Croccoriga, at above sea level, in the pro ...

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

Geology

The Sulcis Mountains geological structure is rather intricated, due to their very ancient origin which, in the first formations, dates to more than 600 million years ago (

Cambrian The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized Ꞓ) was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 538.8 million years ag ...

period). Their age is also shown by the rather mild nature of the reliefs, with a few peaks over 1000 m of altitude, presenting what remains of the superficial

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is di ...

which has partly left untouched the 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 the

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, cau ...

s originated before the

Variscan orogeny The Variscan 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 ''Variscan'', comes ...

. The western side of the chain has been made rather mild by the erosion and flood processes, with modest altitude reliefs. The inner and eastern sectors are sharper and more irregular, with numerous reliefs and narrow valleys. The western side contains the oldest formations from the Cambrian, consisting in sedimentary depots of marine origin, later subject to metamorphic phenomena. Here

Karst topography Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ...

is also present (Is Zuddas Grottoes). Most of the sedimentary formations from the Carboniferous to the

Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and 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 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Pale ...

underwent to metamorphic processes in the Variscan Orogeny, and to the intrusion of

graniti Graniti is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Messina in the Italian region Sicily, located about east of Palermo and about southwest of Messina. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 1,550 and an area of .All demographics an ...

c marbles. The post-Variscan erosion and the tectonic lifts of the

Cenozoic The Cenozoic ( ; ) is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterised by the dominance of mammals, birds and flowering plants, a cooling and drying climate, and the current configu ...

caused the appearance of magmatic (

leucogranite Leucogranite is a light-colored, granitic, igneous rock containing almost no dark minerals. Alaskite is a synonym.schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock showing pronounced schistosity. This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a low-power hand lens, oriented in such a way that the rock is easily split into thin flakes ...

s) intrusions which made the eastern sector more heterogeneous. The plateau-like formations at the feet of the chain have a double origin: on the western side are the most ancient ones (Cenozoic), formed by flood depots and, partly, by lava; on the eastern and south-easters sides are instead small flood depots from the Quaternary.

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