Tabernas desert
Desierto de Tabernas , translated Desert of Tabernas , is the name of a landscape in Andalusia ( Spain ). It is located in the province of Almería , about 30 km north of the provincial capital Almería in the area of the town of Tabernas . It extends over 280 km². Since October 1989, a protected area of the European Natura 2000 network has been designated here on an area of 115 km² , and the area is also a natural park (Paraje Natural) according to national Spanish law. The area, a semi-desert according to climatic and vegetation criteria , consists of an extensive complex of hills cut by erosion channels, known as badlands as a technical term . It is the most arid region on the European continent.
The Tabernas desert lies between the Sierra de los Filabres in the north, the Sierra Alhamilla in the south-southeast and the Sierra Nevada in the west. Part of the area is part of the Sierra Alhamilla. In spite of the hostile appearance at first glance, numerous rare and threatened animal and plant species live in the area, including some local endemics that only occur here.
climate
The Tabernas desert is cut off from the humid winds of the Mediterranean by the Betic Cordillera and lies in the so-called Spanish Levant , a zone with little rainfall. According to the aridity index, it is the aridest region in Spain and all of Europe. The average annual precipitation is 239 millimeters (measured in Tabernas, average 1967 to 1997), with strong fluctuations both within a year and from year to year. The lowest annual precipitation in the measurement period was 115, the highest 431 millimeters. The average number of rainy days a year is 39 (25 to 55), with a maximum in October and November and a minimum in July and August. The area lies in the extensive region of the Mediterranean climate . Average temperatures in the area range from 10.2 ° C (January) to 27.9 ° C (August). The average maximum temperature in the warmest month (August) reaches 34.5 ° C.
The Plataforma Solar de Almería was set up on the edge of the desert, where solar thermal power plants are tested.
Geology and geomorphology
About 8 million years ago, in the Miocene , the Tabernas Basin was a shelf sea zone on the edge of the Mediterranean Sea, in which extensive submarine compartments of sediment were deposited by the rivers of the neighboring mainland. Coral reefs existed in the coastal area, the fossil remains of which can be found in the area. In the following time, about 7 million years ago, the sea was narrowed to a shallow sea channel by the rising mountain range of the Sierra Alhamilla in the south. In the area, sometimes under marine influence, sometimes an inland lagoon or an inland lake, depending on the milieu, limestone, sandstone and claystone with deposits of gypsum rock (evaporite) were sedimented. About 2 million years ago, at the end of the Pliocene , the sea finally retreated from the region, and today's coastline was formed. The deposited sediments, partially weakly consolidated and soft, with embedded, hard limestone banks, were exposed to erosion after they were uplifted. The Tabernas Basin today forms a shallow depression running in an east-west direction between the Sierra de los Filabres and the Sierra Alhamilla, with a length of 20 kilometers and a maximum width of about 10 kilometers. The irregular but episodically very intense rainfall associated with the sparse due to the dryness of vegetation cover and the soft sediments led to a sharp erosion in the number of Rambla called, only epiosidisch aquifer dry rivers deep channels ausspülten which extended at its mouth in the basin alluvial fans wash up. The area drains to the Andarax River , but surface runoff is only available after heavy rainfall. Over the past 100,000 years, the ramified Ramblas have transformed the originally flat area into a bizarre landscape of flat ridges with ridges on the flanks. Such landscapes are, after the English expression, called " badlands " by geologists . The erosion did not come to a standstill; it continues today even after heavy rainfall.
Vegetation and flora
In the flora of the area, Mediterranean species, with a main distribution in the Mediterranean area, mix with desert species of the Saharan phytogeographic zone. The vegetation of the area on stable soils, in flat areas and on gently sloping slopes, consists of a shrub savannah. The type of vegetation, called matorral or tomillar in Spanish , is widespread in the Mediterranean area, it is referred to elsewhere as garigue or phrygana . In the area it consists of the sun rose species Helianthemum almeriense , the fleshy succulent subshrubs Anabasis articulata (genus Anabasis ), Salsola genistoides and Salsola papillosa (genus Salsola ), the thorn shrub Launaea lanifera and the endemic, d. H. Only here occurring subshrub Euzomodendron bourgaeanum . This bush formation, in the European protected area system of the habitat type 5330 Thermo-Mediterranean bush formations and pre-deserts , occupies the largest space in the area with more than 1830 hectares. It occurs here in a particularly arid variant. The Artemisia species Artemisia barrelieri can emerge in more degraded areas . In the undergrowth of the bushes there are numerous annuals in the rainy season . The area is too dry for tree growth, the oak species Quercus rotundifolia , which was formerly widespread in the adjacent mountain ranges at higher sea level, is now limited to relict populations due to overuse by grazing cattle. On the ridges of the hill there are sometimes dense stands of the tall grass species Halfagras ( Stipa tenacissima ), the type of vegetation is called espartal in Spain . In between, the soil is often covered by biological soil crusts with numerous types of lichen , as is typical in arid regions .
The extensive slopes with little or no vegetation, in which the formation of a vegetation cover is prevented by the action of soil erosion , are more typical of the area and determine the aspect . Sometimes the small shrub Salsola genistoides and the annual, red-flowering herb Moricandia foetida form loose herds, but their roots cannot stabilize the slopes. The leafless gorse species Retama sphaerocarpa is also widespread here. In particular, the slopes exposed to the south and southwest are mostly completely free of vegetation, they take up about a third of the area of the area. North and northeast exposed slopes as well as the less steeply sloping slope foot areas usually have at least loose vegetation cover.
Movies
Because of its similarities to the deserts of North America ("Wild West"), North Africa and Arabia, the Tabernas desert has been used as a location for numerous films and westerns from the 1950s to the present day. This is where Lawrence of Arabia , For a Fistful of Dollars , Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and many more films were made.
Fort Bravo near Tabernas (setting for four fists for a hallelujah, among others ) is the largest western village and the only one of three still preserved (there were up to 14) that is currently used for filming. It served u. a. as a backdrop for Winnetou's return , The Shoe of Manitu , The Daltons against Lucky Luke and Spanish cinema productions such as 800 Bullets or commercials (e.g. Pepsi with the players from Real Madrid and Manchester United ). After the shooting, the respective sets remain in place, but are no longer preserved. Older locations in particular are in poor condition.
The other two, Oasys (with a zoo and swimming pools, backdrop, among other things, for a handful of dollars ) and Western Leone ( play me a song of death ), are now used for purely tourist purposes, but are better preserved than Fort Bravo .
(Cinema Studios) Fort Bravo and Oasys (theme park) were widely known as Texas Hollywood and Mini Hollywood . However, since both contained Hollywood in their name, confusion arose and the names were changed.
Five stars deluxe shot the video clip for their song The kids are okay in the desert .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b European Environment Agency, EUNIS Fact Sheet Desierto de Tabernas
- ^ Paraje Natural Desierto de Tabernas Junta de Andalucia
- ↑ a b A. Solé Benet, Y. Cantón, R. Lázaro, J. Puigdefábregas (2009): Meteorización y erosión en el Sub-Desierto de Tabernas, Almería. Cuadernos de Investigación Geográfica 35 (1): 141-163.
- ^ JC Braga & José M. Martín: The Tabernas Basin. Geological features. Junta de Andalucía. PDF download at www.juntadeandalucia.es
- ↑ Javier Cabello Piñar, Daniel Morata Toledo, Rüdiger Otto, José María Fernández Palacios (2009): Matorrales termomediterráneos, matorrales suculentos canarios (macaronésicos) dominados por Euphorbias endémicas y nativas y tomillares semiáridos y nativas y nativas y tomillares y nativcados dominativos por plumbaginativos. En: VV.AA., Bases ecológicas preliminares para la conservación de los tipos de hábitat de interés comunitario en España. Madrid: Ministerio de Medio Ambiente, y Medio Rural y Marino. 170 p. PDF
- ^ R. Lázaro, Y. Cantón, A. Solé-Benet, J. Bevan, R. Alexander, LG Sancho, J. Puigdefábregas (2008): The influence of competition between lichen colonization and erosion on the evolution of soil surfaces in the Tabernas badlands (SE Spain) and its landscape effects. Geomorphology 102: 252-266. doi: 10.1016 / j.geomorph.2008.05.005
- ↑ F. López-Bermúdez, C. Boix-Fayos, A. Solé-Benet, J. Albaladejo, G. G. Barberá, G. del Barrio, V. Castillo, J. Garcia, R. Lázaro, MD Martínez-Mena , W. Mosch, JA Navarro-Cano, J. Puigdefabregas, M. Sanjuan: Landscape and Desertification in South-east Spain. Field Trip Guide, 6th International Conference on Geomorphology. Zaragoza 2005.
- ^ Adolfo Calvo-Cases, Adrian M. Harvey, Roy W. Alexander, Yolanda Cantón, Roberto Lázaro, Albert Solé-Benet, Juan Puigdefábregas: Badlands in the Tabernas Basin, Betic Chain. Chapter 17 in Francisco Gutiérrez, Mateo Gutiérrez (editors): Landscapes and Landforms of Spain. Springer Verlag, ISBN 978-94-017-8627-0
- ↑ https://www.facebook.com/FuenfSternedeluxe/videos/f%C3%BCnf-sterne-deluxe-die-kids-sind-okay/653244165121037/
Web links
Coordinates: 37 ° 0 ′ N , 2 ° 27 ′ W