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Spain Lowland Regions
The major lowland regions are the Andalusian Plain in
the
southwest, the Ebro Basin in the northeast, and the
coastal
plains. The Andalusian Plain is essentially a wide river
valley
through which the Rio Guadalquivir flows. The river
broadens out
along its course, reaching its widest point at the Golfo
de
Cadiz. The Andalusian Plain is bounded on the north by the
Sierra
Morena and on the south by the Sistema Penibetico; it
narrows to
an apex in the east where these two mountain chains meet.
The
Ebro Basin is formed by the Rio Ebro valley, contained by
mountains on three sides--the Sistema Iberico to the south
and
west, the Pyrenees to the north and east, and their
coastal
extensions paralleling the shore to the east. Minor
low-lying
river valleys close to the Portuguese border are located
on the
Tagus and the Rio Guadiana.
The coastal plains regions are narrow strips between
the
coastal mountains and the seas. They are broadest along
the Golfo
de Cadiz, where the coastal plain adjoins the Andalusian
Plain,
and along the southern and central eastern coasts. The
narrowest
coastal plain runs along the Bay of Biscay, where the
Cordillera
Cantabrica ends close to shore.
Data as of December 1988
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