Salamanca Province is situated in western Spain, in the western part of Castile and León. It has an average altitude of 823 meters, but there are large variations throughout the province, with being the highest point at the peak of the
Ceja Canchal in the
Sierra de Béjar range, and being the lowest point in the valley of the Salto de Saucelle. Also of note is the
Sierra de Francia mountain range. The Salamanca hydrographic network is mainly formed by the Duero basin. The most important rivers are the
Duero,
Tormes,
Águeda,
Huebra, and
Yeltes rivers. The region is well-irrigated with a number of dams and reservoirs, and with more than 3,400 million cubic meters, it is the province with the third highest water storage capacity in Spain, second only to the
Province of Badajoz and the
Province of Cáceres. Of particular note is the
Almendra Dam, five kilometres from the village of
Almendra. Constructed between 1964 and 1970, the dam forms part of the
hydroelectric system known as
the Duero Drops, along with the Castro,
Ricobayo, Saucelle and Villalcampo. It is one of the largest reservoirs in Spain with an area of and 2.5 billion cubic metres of water. The dam itself is more than half a kilometre wide and, at a height of , it is one of
Spain's tallest structures. ==Population development==