Sierra de Enmedio, Almendricos, Lorca, Murcia, Spaini

Regional Level Types
Sierra de Enmedio	Sierra
Almendricos	Village
Lorca	Municipality
Murcia	Autonomous Community
Spain	Country

The Sierra de Enmedio, belonging to the Nevado-Fiábride complex, is located south of the municipality of Puerto Lumbreras (Region of Murcia) and north of the Lorca county council of Almendricos. It owes its name to its location, as it is located between the Cabezo de la Jara and La Carrasquilla mountain ranges.

It goes from Puerto Lumbreras to Orihuela.

It is classified as a LIC (Lugar de Importancia Comunitaria/Place of Community Importance). The presence of some protected species stands out, such as the Bonelli's eagle or the Moorish tortoise (Testudo Graeca), a chelonian considered of community interest and included in Annex IV of the Habitat Directive (92/43/EEC), which refers to the animal and plant species that require strict protection.

In the Enmedio mountain range, the Cerro del Medro (856 m), the Cabezo de los Gabrieles (693 m a.s.l.), the Cerro de la Ermita (627 m a.s.l.) and the Cabezo de la Paja (568 m a.s.l.) stand out. It is made up of slate, phyllites and quartzite, as well as outcrops of diabases and metabasites of endogenous origin. Four L.I.G.s (Lugares de Interés Geológico/Places of Geological Interest) have been catalogued. The iron mineralizations stand out, which were exploited at the beginning of the 20th century with a global extraction of 1.5 million tons with an average grade of 43% Fe. Currently, four quarries are active, two located to the southwest, which extract volcanic materials such as diabases and metabasites (porphyry or ophite) and another two, on the northeastern slope of the mountain range, which extract limestone.

In the Sierra de Enmedio, several sites are known that document the importance of this sector since Prehistory, both for the control of the flat lands that surround it and for the exploitation of its mining resources. Proof of this exploitation is found in a tomb excavated in the Argaric town of Los Cipreses which contained a slab from rock outcrops in the mountains, located 10 km away from this site.

The oldest evidence of habitat is found in the Cueva del Rayo, a shelter with a prehistoric occupation that would extend between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic). Very nearby is the Argaric site of Cañada de Alba, excavated in the first quarter of the 20th century by the Count of Vega del Sella, who documented a total of 30 burial mounds, supposedly funerary, although he could not find remains of burials.

Other Databases

Wikipedia:	https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_de_Enmedio_(Murcia)
Wikidata ID:	Q6127739

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