Catalonia

Catalonia (Catalunya in Catalan) is situated in the north-east of Spain and is an autonomous community within the Kingdom of Spain.  It has a total area of about 32,110 square kilometres.  It is bordered to the north by Andorra and France, by the Mediterranean Sea to the east, by the Spanish province of Valencia to the south, and by the Spanish Province of Aragon to the west.  For further details on the country, see the Wikipedia article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalonia.

Geographically the country is roughly triangular in shape, with the point of the triangle facing south.  The country can be divided into three areas:

 o       On the eastern side of the country is a coastal plain, where the greater part of the 7 million population lives.  Here is situated Barcelona, the capital city.

o        This coastal plain is ringed on the western side by the Catalan Coastal Range, reaching the highest point on Turó de l'Home (1707m) in the Montseny Range.  These mountains are geologically diverse.  

o        To the east of the coastal range lies the Ebro Valley, a quieter more agricultural part of the country.

o        To the north is a high tableland, the foothills of the Pyrenees.  This rises to the ranges of the Pre-Pyrenees (principally composed of sedimentary rocks - limestone) and in turn to the highest peaks in the country in the Eastern (High) Pyrenees (composed of volcanic and metamorphic rocks – granite and gneiss) along the French and Andorran frontiers.

The Eastern Pyrenees are the highest mountain range in the country, forming much of the border with France.  The highest mountain in the eastern part of the range that lies within Catalonia is Pica d’Estats (3143m), which has a prominence of 1275 metres.  The mountain with the highest prominence in Catalonia is Puigmal (2910m), which has a prominence of c.1329 metres.  This is also in the Eastern Pyrenees.   

There are five mountains in Catalonia of at least 3000 metres in height and at least 100 metres of prominence: