| Zambales Mountains | |
| Other Name: | Western Cordillera |
| Country: | Philippines |
| Subdivision1 Type: | Provinces |
| Subdivision2 Type: | Region |
| Subdivision2: | Central Luzon & Ilocos Region |
| Highest: | Mount Tapulao (aka High Peak) |
| Highest Location: | Zambales |
| Elevation M: | 2037 |
| Range Coordinates: | 15.6833°N 125°W |
| Coordinates: | 15.4808°N 120.1211°W |
| Length Km: | 180 |
| Length Orientation: | N-S |
The Zambales Mountains is a mountain range on western Luzon island in the Philippines. 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 .
The Zambales Mountains has an area of [1] 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.[2] 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, Lubao, Angeles City and Mabalacat.
The Zambales Mountains include Jurassic to Miocene ophiolite massifs, overlain by more recent sedimentary formation, including the Cagaluan Formation and the Santa Cruz Formation.[3]
Although the mountains are volcanic in origin,[2] 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.
List of rivers in Zambales Mountains by length.