Sistema Central

Central System
Sistema Central
View of La Serrota, 2.294 m, in Ávila Province
Highest point
Peak	Pico Almanzor
Elevation	2,592 m (8,504 ft)
Dimensions
Length	485 km (301 mi) ENE - WSW
Width	90 km (56 mi) NNW - SSE
Geography
Location of the Sistema Central in the Iberian Peninsula
Countries	Spain and Portugal
States/Provinces	Guarda and Castelo Branco districts, Extremadura, Castile-La Mancha and Castile and León
Geology
Orogeny	Alpine
Age of rock	Tertiary
Type of rock	Limestone and sandstone

The Central System, Spanish and Portuguese: Sistema Central, is one of the main systems of mountain ranges in the Iberian Peninsula. 2,592 m high Pico Almanzor is its highest summit.

The Central System is located just north of the 40th parallel and its ranges divide the drainage basin of the Tagus from the basin of the Douro.

The Sistema Central is a primary feature of the Meseta Central, the inner Iberian plateau, splitting the meseta into two parts. The Sistema Central runs in an ENE - WSW direction roughly along the southern border of the Spanish autonomous community of Castile and León and Extremadura continuing into the Guarda and Castelo Branco districts in Portugal.

Unlike the neighboring Sistema Ibérico, the Sistema Central range is a quite homogeneous system. It consists of several ranges that formed 25 million years ago as part of the Alpine orogeny.

The major mountain ranges are the Sierra de Guadarrama, which runs approximately along the border of the Madrid and Castile and León autonomous communities, the Sierra de Gredos north of the border between Castile and León and Castile-La Mancha stretching into Extremadura and containing the range's highest mountain, Pico Almanzor, at 2,592 m, as well as the Serra da Estrela, containing the highest point in continental Portugal, A Torre, 1.993 m. Other notably large ranges are Sierra de Gata and Sierra de Ayllón. The Central System links with the Sistema Ibérico at its eastern end through the Sierra de Pela, the Altos de Barahona and Sierra Ministra, the latter already fully part of the Iberian System.