226.4 km2 with an average altitude of 26 masl. Bordering populations The nearest town is Lepe: five miles to the west, on the other side of the river Piedra. To the northeast is Gibraleón and to the south-east is Punta Umbría, which separated from the municipality of Cartaya in 1963. Orography The relief of the region can be categorized into three main types. The fluvial-coastal zone includes the floodplain of the river down to and including the Atlantic coastline and San Miguel Beach. The wooded zone is made up of pine groves and low hills. The remaining part of the region is made up of fields. The soil is composed of gravel and conglomerates of detritic coverages, glacis and eroded hillsides. Most of the orography was formed in the Quaternary Period, although the higher ground shows outcrops of Paleozoic shale. One of the most distinctive features of the landscape is the long peninsula known as the "Arrow of Nueva Umbría" or "Arrow of El Rompido". Possession of this narrow strip of land is a source of dispute between the municipalities of Lepe and Cartaya. Another local landmark is the Lagoon of El Portil. Geodesic data Climatology The region has a Mediterranean climate. The winters are very mild, with temperatures rarely dropping below 10 °C; the summers are warm, generally reaching highs of over 30 °C in July and August. Precipitation is not very abundant. The table below shows the average temperature and rainfall by month for the year 2007: Hydrology The principal river is the Piedra, which forms the boundary between the municipalities of Cartaya and Lepe. The river's source is in the municipality of El Almendro, although many tributary streams rise in the municipality of Villanueva de los Castillejos. At one time, the river mouth was by the village of El Rompido, whose name derives from the ocean waves breaking against the river sediment. However, the sediments deposited by the river have built up over time in an easterly direction, giving rise to features such as the "Arrow of Nueva Umbria" and the Lagoon of El Portil. The water supply of Cartaya municipality comes from the Chanza Reservoir, situated in another municipality. Ecology Flora There are 12,000 hectares of forest in the area; mostly pine, juniper, new plantations of eucalyptus trees and some smaller areas of evergreen oaks and cork oaks. Along with the marshland areas of the "Marshes