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Gypsum Steppes of the Tagus Valley in Villarrubia de Santiago

Villarrubia de Santiago, Mesa de Ocaña, Toledo

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Gypsum Steppes of the Tagus Valley in Villarrubia de Santiago

Nature · Villarrubia de Santiago, Mesa de Ocaña, Toledo

Villarrubia de Santiago

Image of Villarrubia de Santiago, not of the place itself.

The gypsum steppes (yesares) of the Tajo valley are a protected area within the Natura 2000 network, declared a special area of conservation, extending across seven zones in the provinces of Toledo and Cuenca, including the municipal area of Villarrubia de Santiago. They bring together the best and most extensive examples of gypsum steppe in the Tajo valley and its tributaries, with an alternation of gypsum outcrops, saline marls, limestones and river terraces, between 500 and 822 metres in altitude. Its vegetation, rich in a large number of endemic species, combines gypsum steppe, halo-nitrophilous scrub and saline albardinal grasslands with holm oak woods, kermes oak scrub and rosemary scrub; notable species include Vella pseudocytisus and Sisymbrium cavanillesianum. On the river cliffs of the left bank an important population of peregrine falcon nests.

Photo: Viquipèdia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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