| Prebaetic System | |
| Other Name: | Sistema Prebético |
| Country: | Spain |
| Subdivision1 Type: | Regions |
| Subdivision1: | Andalusia, Region of Murcia, Castile-La Mancha, Valencian Community |
| Parent: | Baetic System |
| Highest: | La Sagra |
| Elevation M: | 2382 |
| Range Coordinates: | 37.95°N -36°W |
| Age: | Cenozoic |
| Orogeny: | Alpine orogeny |
| Length Km: | 360 |
| Length Orientation: | ENE/WSW |
| Width Km: | 100 |
| Width Orientation: | NNW/SSE |
| Map: | Spain |
The Prebaetic System (Spanish; Castilian: Sistemas Prebéticos or Sistema Prebético, also often referred to simply as Prebético[1]) is a system of mountain ranges that forms the northeasternmost prolongation of the Baetic System in the southern Iberian Peninsula.
Although it is sometimes referred to as Cordillera Prebética, it is not a proper cordillera, or continuous alignment of ranges, but a broken system of mountain ranges.Unlike the other two subsystems of the Baetic System, it is not present in the western area, but begins west of the eastern edge of the Sierra Sur de Jaén near Martos.
The Prebaetic System runs along eastern interior Andalusia, across the Region of Murcia, reaching the Mediterranean Sea shores in the southern Valencian Community.[2]
Its highest point is La Sagra, Sierra de la Sagra; other high ranges are Sierra de Segura and Sierra de Cazorla.The Sierra de María in northern Almeria Province runs across the Prebaetic and the Penibaetic System, overlapping with both.
Geologically the Prebaetic System shares similar characteristics to its parent system, the Subbaetic System and it is considered its eastern offshoot. The materials that compose it were formed in a relatively shallow sea.[3] The Iberian System rises north of the eastern part of the Prebaetic System.
Some of the mountain ranges that make up the Prebaetic complex are, from west to east: