Misplaced Pages

#360639

15-437: The main islets are Illa Grossa , La Ferrera , La Foradada and El Carallot . The total emerged area of all four is around 0.19 km (0.07 sq mi) and the highest point is 67 metres (220 feet) above sea level . Illa Grossa, by far the largest, is the northernmost island of the group. It stands in the place of an ancient crater and shows a distinctive semi-circular pattern. There are no buildings on it, except for

30-573: A Marine reserve in 1990. Illa Grossa Illa Grossa , ("Large Island" in Valencian ) is the largest island of the Columbretes archipelago of Spain, located in the Mediterranean Sea. It has a surface area of 14 hectares , or 0.05 square miles . It sits 60 km from Costa del Azahar . The island has experienced a rifting process since the lower Miocene , and is characterized by

45-600: A 19th-century lighthouse , a jetty and the staff quarters used by the biologists working in the wildlife reserve . The cone forming the Columbrete Grande was formed during four volcanic episodes from 1.0 to 0.3 million years ago. It consists of alkaline magmatism associated with the opening ( rifting ) of the Valencia Trough . Volcanism in other areas of the Valencia Trough coast dates between 10 million years and

60-523: A significant presence of basalt materials. It is the result of a number of craters forming a chain, and its shape resembles the halve of an ellipse with an average diameter of 1 km, with two main elevations. The island's highest point, located in the northern section, is called mount Colibrí or Colibre . Along with the rest of the islands of the archipelago, it belongs to the Columbretes Islands Natural Reserve . The island

75-471: Is an imperial and US unit of measure for area . One square mile is equal to the area of a square with each side measuring a length of one mile . One square mile is equal to: One square mile is also equivalent to: Square miles should not be confused with miles square, a square region with each side having a length of the value given. For example, a region which is 20 miles square ( 20 miles × 20 miles ) has an area of 400 sq mi ;

90-750: The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food through the Ministerial Order of 19 April 1990. They were renamed a Natural Reserve by the Generalitat Valenciana through the 11/1994 Law of 27 December. The island is known for being the natural habitat of the Columbretes lizard ( Podarcis atrata ). The island is also inhabited by animals in danger of extinction, such as Eleonora's falcon and Audouin's gull . Square miles The square mile (abbreviated as sq mi and sometimes as mi )

105-449: The Latin word for "snake". After a lighthouse was built on Illa Grossa in the mid-19th century, a few people were settled on it. The small community looked after maintenance of the lighthouse and helped to deter smugglers who used the islets as a refuge. Farm animals including pigs were introduced. This, combined with aggressive practices such as the burning of the original bushy vegetation of

120-560: The archipelago has been declared a wildlife reserve. It is as an optimal place for the reproductive activities of certain sea birds . The local colony of Audouin's gulls (which is a species listed as Near Threatened globally) is one of the most important in the world and key to the species ongoing recovery in the Spanish Mediterranean. The islets are also home for one of the major stable populations of Eleanora's falcon in Spain. Besides,

135-483: The archipelago. In 1895, Ludwig Von Salvator published his book Columbretes , the world's first account of the island's flora and fauna . The lighthouse was operated by lighthouse keepers until 1975, when it was automated. In the late 1970s, the Spanish and American navies bombarded the islands as part of military exercises. The use of the islands as targets stopped in 1982, after student protests calling for an end of

150-669: The bombardments pushed the Deputation of Castellón to solicit an end to the exercises, with the Spanish Ministry of Defense complying to the request. The island is uninhabited, except for guards established by the Generalitat Valenciana . The Columbretes islands were declared a natural park by the Council of the Generalitat Valenciana through the 15/1988 decree of 25 January, and a Marine Reserve of more than 4.400 hectares by

165-411: The islets are very important during spring and autumn bird migrations , since many different species who follow the Spanish Mediterranean coast in the course of their migration use them as a brief stop in order to rest. Due to its isolation, the islands are inhabited by an endemic subspecies of small lizard, Podarcis hispanicus atratus . There is also an endemic subspecies of Lobularia maritima in

SECTION 10

#1733085099361

180-535: The lighthouse island (partly for agricultural uses and also to deliberately deprive the numerous endemic snub-nosed vipers of their natural habitat), caused the snakes to become extinct by the end of the 19th century. The only testimony of their past abundance that remains today is a stuffed viper from the Columbretes in Madrid 's Natural Science Museum . All islets and skerries are separated into four groups, all of them related to their position to one another: Since 1988

195-545: The local flora. After being given the Natural Park status, pigs were eradicated. Also, the lighthouse is now automatic, which reduces the human presence only to the one of biologists assigned to the park's management. The submerged area around the islands is as relevant in terms of conservation as the area above the surface. It covers an area of 400 square kilometres (154 sq mi) where an important community of submarine wildlife thrives undisturbed. It became protected as

210-534: The present and they show a transition from calc-alkaline to alkaline signature. These islands were known by Greeks and Romans from ancient times. Writers such as Strabo or Pliny the Elder cited the astonishing number of snakes inhabiting them. The names Ophiusa and Colubraria by which they were named (meaning serpent in Greek and Latin , respectively) refer to that fact. The islands owe their present name to "Coluber",

225-415: Was used as a refuge by pirates and smugglers . In the mid 19th Century, the island was set on fire in order to exterminate the large population of snakes. The snakes were endemic to the islands, and the archipelago's original names ( Ophiusa or Columbraria ) were given by Greek and Roman sailors due to the abundance of reptiles. In 1859, a lighthouse was built 67 m above sea level, the highest point of

#360639