Sierra Nevada Geology

Then, in the second half of the Tertiary, the Pliocene,started lifting and folding material on ancient orogenesis, and it graduallyemerged from the waters, like all the alpine training that started the pressurein the south, and was moving north toward the central plateau, which wasstopping its progress.

Subsequently, there was a point where the rise and swellingreached its limits and the materials were broken, sliding on top of each otherand forming a series of very flawed nature.

Sierra Nevada, along with all the Beticas ridges and alongthe Mediterranean Sea, were formed during the Tertiary Alpine orogeny insouthern Europe, with sediments of the elementary and secondary Education suchas quartz grains, clay, and iron oxides.

The accumulation of a thick layer of material at the bottomof a syncline, which is covered by marine waters of the Tethys Sea for morethan 200 million years, between 3000 and 4000 m, and subjected to enormouspressure from the depths, converted sedimentary rocks and metamorphosed.

In the geological formation of the Sierra Nevada, contrastsoccurred, such as the soft “inclined planes” (called “hills”) from the southernslope against the steep and deep gorges of the northern slope, which was moremarked during the period of the Quaternary glacial erosion, and the VeletaValdeinfierno of Laguna de las Yeguas, Rio Seco, the de la Hoya Mora, andLajaron, the latter river with the same name, whose basin perfectly definestypical U-shaped glacial channels.

Geology Today

The core of Sierra Nevadais composed of materials from the Paleozoic era, mainly shales, micaceas, andlow hardness.

There are four slots or areas, geologically speaking:

The central area of the main elevations of the Sierra Nevada, with typical metamorphic schists orslates.

Around the middle is another area of rocks of varied slate,amphibole, serpentine, gneiss, marble, some volcanic rocks, consisting offragments of the constituents of the weakness of “launa,” rock used aswaterproofing in many of the roofs, which is typical of the area.

The area “outside” is formed by a belt of Triassiclimestones and dolomites, and as such we have the most characteristic Trevenquepeak (2,079 m) and of Alayo Dilar (1,982 m).

Finally, in the stretch of Tertiary land are clay andconglomerates extensions.

This research was considered the Ice Age with fossilsdiscovered that are between 100 and 9000 years old. These areas are consideredpermafrost, remaining vestiges of the ancient glaciers in the massif.

Glaciers

As said before, it is estimated that during the WurmGlaciation the limits of the Sierra Nevadasnowline was around 2400 m. This has led to modeling, and stress is the causeof the presence of many high mountain lakes and U-shaped valleys, as alsomentioned earlier.

There are chronicles from the 19th century, when it wasstill possible to see the remains of a glacier in the area called The Corraldel Veleta. A shadow of the peak of the same name was recently discovered. Eventoday there are areas of permafrost at various points around the mountain, suchas in the aforementioned area.