The glaciers of the Sierra de Gredos

Abstract The Sierra de Gredos forms the central sector of the Central Range and extends for 155 km between the Sierra de Guadarrama to the east and the Sierra de Gata-Pena de Francia to the west, its highest peak being the Pico Almanzor (2591 m, 40° 14′ 46″ N and 5° 17′ 51″ W). The bedrock is mostly made up of granite rocks. The Sierra de Gredos has a Mediterranean–continental climate, with a clear increase in rainfall to the west due to its proximity to the Atlantic. Its glacial landscapes present a great variety of landforms, from small cirques in the massifs of the smaller summits and southern slopes, to large glacial valleys of lengths exceeding 10 km and plateau glaciers in the highest and western-most summits. The glacial evolution during the Late Pleistocene, since the maximum extent occurred before the global Last Global Maximum until the definitive disappearance of the glaciers, just at the beginning of the Holocene, is well known. Phases of glacial advance have also been clearly detected during the Oldest Dryas and, to a much more limited extent, during the Younger Dryas.