ABSTRACT

Eastern Andalusia is composed of four of the eight Andalusian provinces: Almería, Granada, Jaen and Málaga, in the south of Spain (Fig. 7.1). It is a fairly extensive territory (42,223 Km2), crossed by a mountain system within the Betic Ranges which provides high geological, lithological, altitudinal and climatic diversity. It stretches from the Mediterranean Sea to an altitude of 3,481 m. in the Sierra Nevada, the highest summit of the Iberian Peninsula. Precipitation ranges from less than 200 mm per year in the semi-arid region of the Almeria coastline to more than 1,200 mm per year in some of the mountain areas (Rivas-Martínez 2010).