The Bardenas Reales (sometimes referred as Bárdenas Reales in Spanish; in Basque: Errege Bardeak) is a semi-desert natural region, or badlands, of some in southeast Navarre (Spain). The soils are made up of clay, chalk, and sandstone and have been eroded by water and wind creating surprising shapes, canyons, plateaus, tabular structures, and isolated hills, called cabezos. Bardenas Reales lacks urban areas, vegetation is scarce and the many streams that cross the territory have a markedly seasonal flow, staying dry most of the year.
Location
The Bardenas is in the southeast of Navarre, bordering
Aragon. It is located in the middle of the depression of the
Ebro valley at the foot of the mountains of the Yugo and the Zaragoza region of Cinco Villas. It is from north to south and east-west and at an altitude ranging between . Its area is . There are only sixteen municipalities, of which thirteen are in Navarre and three in the province of Zaragoza. The Navarrese are
Valtierra, Arguedas,
Carcastillo,
Santacara, Mélida,
Rada,
Caparroso, Villafranca,
Cadreita, Tudela,
Cabanillas, Fustiñana and Buñuel, while the Zaragozan are:
Tauste, Ejea de los Caballeros and Sádaba.
Las Bardenas is divided into several distinct areas which mainly include two, Black Bardena and White Bardena, but there are other smaller areas of great singularity.
White Bardena
It is the central area and more desert. Its relief is characterized by extensive plains and deep gorges through which rivers flow. This Bardena owes its name to the presence of white salt that extends over the surface due to the abundance of
gypsum in the soil.
The White Bardena divides into two, the White Lower and Upper White. The first is the most depressed and the second extends from Pisquerra and Eguaras to Carcastillo.
Black Bardena
Black Bardena is situated in the southeastern part of the territory on the border of the
Aragon. Formed by plateaus of different altitudes and cut by rivers flowing at the bottom of the cliffs, this part of the Bardenas is covered with vegetation.
Central Plateau
There is a central plateau that lies above the surrounding area where corn is grown. It is formed by
Tertiary period and
Quaternary soils that were raised by pressure associated with the creation of
Pyrenees and the mountains of Central Spain that caused the collapse of the Ebro basin forming an inland sea enclosed by the Catalan Coastal Range. Sediments laid down were then eroded from the
Eocene onwards. These formed gravel and sandstone that stayed at the top, fine sand, clay, and limestone occupy the lower slopes. Clay remained in the centre and limestone and gypsum formed at the edges. The gravel, sandstones, and clay were all associated with alluvial deposits. Mixtures of sandstone and clay formed two mountain ranges between the centre and perimeter. The sediments may have been thick. Ten million years ago, the basin opened to the Mediterranean Sea and drained, leaving the Ebro, which began water erosion along the southern perimeter, which left the remaining land relatively flat. The folding effect of erosion is caused by alternate soft and hard materials. If the layers are horizons, then the Cabezas became isolated.
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