 Sierra Nevada is a mountainous massif belongs to the set of the Betica, specifically Penibéticos systems. It is located in Andalusia, Spain, extending from the Center-Southeast area of the province of Granada and part of the southwest of the province of Almería. In 1986 was declared a "Biosphere reserve" by Unesco and in 1999 much of its territory was declared a national park by their botanical, landscape and natural values. It is the mountain massif of highest altitude in Western Europe after the Alps. Its maximum altitude is reached at the Mulhacén peak of 3,482 meters above sea level.

From the 18th century named the way in which it is known today: Sierra Nevada. In 1986, the sierra Nevada was declared by Unesco and Natural Park by the Andalusian Parliament in 1989.

Sierra Nevada, jointly with the Betica mountain ranges on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, was formed during the tertiary Alpine orogeny in the South of Europe, with sediments of the era primary and secondary: grains of quartz, clay and iron oxides, fundamentally.

There are four stripes or areas, geologically speaking: The central part, surroundings, outdoor area and tertiary land.

the Wisconsinan glaciation limit the snows of the Sierra Nevada was placed around the 2,400 meters. This has led to the modeling of the relief and is the cause of the presence of innumerable high mountain lakes, and U-shaped valleys as also mentioned earlier.