Zambales Mountains


The Zambales Mountains is a mountain range in western Luzon. The mountains spread along a north-south axis, separating Luzon's central plain from the South China Sea. The range extends into five provinces: Zambales, Pangasinan, Tarlac, Pampanga, and Bataan. One of its most prominent sections is known as the Cabusilan Mountain Range composed of Mount Pinatubo, Mount Negron and Mount Cuadrado, which are believed to be remnants of the ancestral Pinatubo peak. The highest elevation in the Zambales Mountains is Mount Tapulao, also known as High Peak, in Zambales province which rises to.

Extent

The Zambales Mountains has an area of extending North to South from the mountains of western Pangasinan province, the whole length of Zambales, to tip of the Bataan Peninsula in the south enclosing Manila Bay. The mountain range also encompasses the mountains in the municipalities of Bamban, Capas, San Jose, San Clemente, Mayantoc, Santa Ignacia, Camiling in the province of Tarlac. In Pampanga, it includes the mountains in Floridablanca, Porac, Angeles City and Mabalacat.

Geology

The Zambales Mountains include Jurassic to Miocene ophiolite massifs, overlain by more recent sedimentary formation, including the Cagaluan Formation and the Santa Cruz Formation.

Volcanoes

Although the mountains are volcanic in origin, Mount Pinatubo is the only active volcano in the mountain range. Its eruption on June 15, 1991 was the second most powerful volcanic eruption of the 20th century after the 1912 eruption of Novarupta in Alaska. The volcanic eruption, which was complicated by the arrival of Typhoon Yunya, covered the region with thick volcanic ash and lahar including the U.S. military base at Clark Field near Angeles City.
Other volcanoes in Zambales Mountains are Mount Mariveles, Mount Natib and Mount Samat.

Protected areas

List of highest peaks

  • Mount Tapulao
  • Mount Iba 5,430 ft
  • Mount Negron
  • Mount Pinatubo
  • Mount Mariveles
  • Mount Cuadrado
  • Mount McDonald
  • Mount Natib
  • Mount Limay
  • Mount Dorst
  • Mount Samat
  • Mount Gates

    River system

List of rivers in Zambales Mountains by length.
The Zambales mountains have undergone immense deforestation due to excessive logging and swidden farming. The 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo also devastated large areas of the range, mostly ancestral lands of the indigenous Aetas in Zambales. Reforestation efforts have had success in some barren parts of the range, notably in San Felipe, Zambales at the initiative of the Aeta people supported by MAD Travel and some government agencies.

Biodiversity

Mammals

The Zamabales forest mouse is a species of small rodent endemic to Zambales Mountains in the Philippines.
The Tapulao forest mouse is a species of small rodent endemic to Mount Tapulao in the Philippines.
The Pinatubo forest mouse is a species of small rodent endemic to Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines.
The Tapulao tweezer-beaked rat is a species of small rodent endemic to Mount Tapulao in the Philippines.