Pyrenees - Geography

Geography

The Spanish Pyrenees are part of the following provinces, from east to west: Girona, Barcelona, Lleida (the latter three Catalonia), Huesca (Aragon), Navarra and Guipúzcoa (the latter part of the Basque Country).

The French Pyrenees are also part of the following départements, from east to west: Pyrénées-Orientales (North Catalonia and Fenolheda), Aude, Ariège, Haute-Garonne, Hautes-Pyrénées, and Pyrénées-Atlantiques (the latter two of which include Pyrenees National Park).

The independent principality of Andorra is sandwiched in the eastern portion of the mountain range between the Spanish Pyrenees and French Pyrenees.

Physiographically, the Pyrenees may be divided into three sections: the Atlantic (or Western), the Central, and the Eastern Pyrenees. Together, they form a distinct physiographic province of the larger Alpine System division.

In the Western Pyrenees, from the Basque mountains near the Bay of Biscay of the Atlantic Ocean, the average elevation gradually increases from west to east.

The Central Pyrenees extend eastward from the Aran Valley to the Somport pass, and they include the highest summits of this range:

• Pico d'Aneto 3,404 metres (11,168 ft) in the Maladeta ridge,
• Posets peak 3,375 metres (11,073 ft),
• Monte Perdido 3,355 metres (11,007 ft).

In the Eastern Pyrenees, with the exception of one break at the eastern extremity of the Pyrénées Ariégeoises, the mean elevation is remarkably uniform until a sudden decline occurs in the easternmost portion of the chain known as the Albères.