salto del río nervión, a 300 meter high waterfall
TRANSCRIPT
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7/28/2019 Salto del Ro Nervin, a 300 meter high waterfall
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Salto del Ro Nervin, a 300 meter high waterfall
(click on the title to read the whole article)
Marius van Heiningen
More photos and infoWild Nature of the Cantabrian Mountains, Spain.
http://wildnaturespain.blogspot.com.es/2013/04/the-natural-park-of-monte-santiago-el.htmlhttp://wildnaturespain.blogspot.com.es/2013/04/the-natural-park-of-monte-santiago-el.htmlhttp://wildnaturespain.blogspot.com.es/2013/04/the-natural-park-of-monte-santiago-el.htmlhttp://wildnaturespain.blogspot.com.es/2013/04/the-natural-park-of-monte-santiago-el.htmlhttp://wildnaturespain.blogspot.com.es/2013/04/the-natural-park-of-monte-santiago-el.htmlhttp://wildnaturespain.blogspot.com.es/http://wildnaturespain.blogspot.com.es/http://wildnaturespain.blogspot.com.es/http://wildnaturespain.blogspot.com.es/http://wildnaturespain.blogspot.com.es/2013/04/the-natural-park-of-monte-santiago-el.html -
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Monte Santiago, the abrupt boundary between
the Spanish highland and the Basque lowland.
During the Easter holiday we managed to escape for a few days, devoting our time to
the detection of new orchid sites, exploring caves and visiting beautiful places. In thispost I want to share some pictures of the Monte Santiago Natural Park, with its 300
meters high waterfall: El salto del Ro Nervin. This blog is also dedicated to natural
spaces located in the immediate vicinity of the Cantabrian Mountains.
The location of this park is quiet special, because its the only place where the Spanish
highland (meseta) borders the coastal lowlands. Most of the northern meseta (with
heights of 800 to 900 meters) is separated from the north coast by the Cantabrian
Mountains (with altitudes of over 2000 meters). However, these mountains end some 30
kilometers west of Monte Santiago, so that in this park the meseta is directly adjacent to
the lowland of Vizcaya (Basque Country). The border between both regions consists of
a dizzying steep cliff of about 500 to 600 meters high and several tens of kilometers
long: a spectacular sight enhanced in value by the presence of numerous vulture nests.
The River Nervin collects its water on the meseta and streams towards the cliff where
it flows over the edge and plunges down. However, this 300 meter high waterfall can
only be admired during periods of heavy rain or melting snow. This is due to the karst
nature of the plateau, where most of the surface water quickly disappears below ground
into an enormous underlying cavesystem. Monte Santiago is covered with a beech forest
which is fed by rain and mist coming from the sea. Also there are the ruins of the
medieval monastery of Santiago de Langrriz, which gives its name to this natural park.
Very close to the car park we can find the ruins of the monastery from Santiago de Langreriz",
dating from the XI and XII centuries.
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This pavement is not laid down by humans, it is the product of a natural karst-process whereby
the water enters the fissures and dissolves the rock.
Now we come to the edge of the meseta ......
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.... we are very lucky to find the waterfall plunging down. However, given the width of the
riverbed, at certain moments the volume of water can be much bigger.
A panoramic view from the meseta (height 800 meters) over the lowlands of Ordua (height
300 meters).
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The steep wall which forms the border between the Spanish highland and the Basque lowland,
as seen from below.
The morphological route brings us back to the monastery. But where in the center of this
karstic highland did these people actually get their water?
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After looking around, and very close to the monastery, we found this: a major source rising on
one side of a local depression of the landscape.
Crystal clear water is flowing over artificial dams. But. where does it go to?
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...... to discover that after a short distance the stream disappears underground again. It is now
clear why the monks had their monastery just in this exact place, water is life.