Geomorfología en Geografia y Ordenación del territorio, una perspectiva multiescalar y diacrónica

Se presentan ejemplos de estudios geomorfológicos a distintas escalas, tanto relativos a procesos actuales como formas y depósitos resultados de procesos geomorfológicos pasados. A escala local se muestran los ejemplos de la gestión de deslizamientos y desprendimientos en la Calzada del Gigante (Irlanda del Norte) y el estudio de flujos de derrubios de Blatten (Suiza), así como las aplicaciones de la geodiversidad a escalas de detalle. A escala regional los ejemplos se centran en la protección y promoción del relieve por su valor patrimonial en Castilla y León y Suiza, explicado como entroncan con los procesos de ordenación territorial. A escala global se explica como la geomorfología subglaciar es esencial en la explicación del proceso de fusión acelerado de la Antártida Occidental, con implicaciones para el aumento del nivel del mar en todo el mundo. Por último se exponen los estudios de ambientes y procesos cuaternarios en Europa, tanto climáticos (el Dryas Reciente como evento climático que puede repetirse en el contexto actual) como dinámicos (la colonización del territorio desde el Neolítico y la intensificación de procesos erosivos). Con este trabajo se pretende destacar la importancia de la Geomorfología en la gestión territorial tanto para la protección del medio natural como la preparación ante riesgos naturales e impactos potenciales de la actividad antrópic

Una puesta en valor del relieve como elemento patrimonial: georutas por el Alto Carrión (Montaña Palentina)

El artículo valora la importancia del relieve como elemento vertebrador del paisaje a la luz de textos y estudios anteriores. Se analizan las distintas iniciativas de protección y explotación del patrimonio geomorfológico, principalmente en el contexto español. Por último se realiza una diagnosis de las potencialidades y debilidades de una comarca en concreto, la Montaña Palentina, se analizan los elementos geomorfológicos sobresalientes presentes en dicha comarca, y se proponen unas rutas geomorfológicas con el fin de poner en valor dicho patrimonio

Geodiversidade: considerações sobre quantificação e avaliação da distribuição espacial

The geodiversity term has been used to attend the needs of geosciences researchers to refer the complex's physical landscape, covering the abiotic elements such as rocks, landforms, soils and rivers, for example, configured as an analogue to the biodiversity term. The various components of geodiversity and biodiversity, combined, make up different physical environments, which allow a quantitative analysis of space, wealth and abundance. This paper aims to identify the main aspects of convergence between the geodiversity and biodiversity, paying attention to the relationships sample in each case, spatial distribution, richness of diversity and the relationship between rate of geodiversity and geological heritage. By establishing general guidelines on the quantitative interpretation of geodiversity and biodiversity, it is clear that both use a pre-defined spatial area. Biodiversity is generally based on sampling units of several sizes due to the impossibility of direct quantification of diversity in all area. In the case of geodiversity is necessary to establish a maximum and minimum scale of assessment, and based on this scale of reference, establish a spatial distribution of elements through the mapping (geological, geomorphological and pedological) and instrumental tool. The quantitative assessment of geodiversity, whose methods are still being evaluated, can supports a better understanding of the physical environment and can also provides results for the identification and assessment of geological, geomorphological and paleontological heritage. However, it is necessary to know that the diversity of life or abiotic elements of an environment represents a very complex context and therefore must be understood beyond a mere numerical index that spatializes the diversity of the constituent parts of the whole.O termo geodiversidade vem sendo utilizado para atender a necessidade dos pesquisadores das áreas de geociências para se referirem ao complexo físico da paisagem, abrangendo os elementos abióticos como rochas, formas de relevo, solos e rios, configurando-se como um análogo ao termo biodiversidade. Os diferentes elementos da geodiversidade e a biodiversidade, combinados entre si, configuram diferentes ambientes físicos, que permitem uma análise quantitativa espacial, de riqueza e abundância. Este trabalho objetiva apontar os principais aspectos convergentes entre a geodiversidade e a biodiversidade, atentando-se para as relações amostrais em cada caso, distribuição espacial, riqueza de diversidade e a relação entre índice de geodiversidade e patrimônio geológico. Ao estabelecer linhas gerais sobre a interpretação quantitativa da geodiversidade e a biodiversidade, percebe-se que ambas utilizam um recorte espacial pré-definido. A biodiversidade geralmente baseia-se em unidades amostrais de diversos tamanhos devido à impossibilidade de quantificação direta da diversidade em toda área. No caso da geodiversidade é preciso estabelecer uma escala máxima e mínima de avaliação, e, partindo dessa escala de referência, estabelecer uma análise da distribuição espacial dos elementos por meio da cartografia (mapas geológicos, pedológicos ou geomorfológicos) como ferramenta instrumental. A avaliação quantitativa da geodiversidade, cujos métodos ainda estão sendo avaliados, pode subsidiar uma melhor compreensão do ambiente físico, inclusive pode oferecer resultados para identificação e avaliação do patrimônio geológico, geomorfológico ou paleontológico. Entretanto, faz-se necessário saber que a diversidade de vida ou de elementos abióticos de um ambiente representa um grande complexo e portanto deve ser entendida além de um mero índice numérico que espacializa a diversidade de partes constituintes do todo

Impacts of land abandonment and climate variability on runoff generation and sediment transport in the Pisuerga headwaters (Cantabrian Mountains, Spain)

Producción CientíficaThe Atlantic mountains of Spain are suffering a strong landscape change due to a widespread and intensive emigration to urban areas since the 1950s. This process, representative of global developments in an imminent future, is dominated by urban societies and leads to deep landscape changes in which crop fields and grasslands are abandoned and progressively covered by forest and shrubs. These dynamics have caused in turn a decrease in the runoff and a general slowdown of geomorphological processes. The impacts of land cover change have been simultaneous to an irregularity in precipitation and a significant increase of temperatures. With this background, this paper assesses in detail the impact of landscape change occurred over the last decades (twentieth and twenty-first centuries) on the water and sediment yield in the Pisuerga catchment headwaters (Cantabrian Mountains, N Spain). We analyzed the different components of Global Change in a catchment of 233 km2 extent, that has passed from 15 to 2 habitants/km2, from multiple data sources. Evolution of land cover was reconstructed from aerial photographs, remote sensing and other resources. The climatic parameters have been studied through meteorological stations, and the hydrological and sedimentological responses over time are based on available runoff data and sedimentological analysis. Our results show a significant decrease in water and sediment transport mainly driven by vegetation increase occurred in a non-linear way, more intense immediately after abandonment. This fact opens the opportunity to control more accurately water resources in Mediterranean catchments through land use management.Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad - Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (project CGL2015-68144-R)Ministerio de Educación y Formación Profesional (grant FPU13/05837

Glacial evolution in King George and Livingston Islands (Antarctica) since the Last Glacial Maximum based on cosmogenic nuclide dating and glacier surface reconstruction-CRONOANTAR project

EGU General Assembly 201

Periglacial activity in the Central and Southern Andes

The Andes Mountain range runs along the western margin of South America for ~7500 km, from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, next to the Caribbean Sea, to Cape Horn, at the southern tip of the continent. Based on structural differences, the Northern Andes (11ºN-1ºS), Central Andes (1º-47ºS) and Southern Andes (47º-68ºS) have been differentiated. In the Central Andes the mountain range is divided into Western and Eastern Andes, between which the Altiplano, a plateau of 300x500 km and 3800- 4900 m surrounded by peaks that reach 6000 m in altitude. Only the Himalayas and Tibet are higher and larger than Andes-Altiplano. Glaciers are preserved on many peaks of the Andes, and on their slopes, there are moraines revealing a much larger glacial extent in the past. Today, in the deglaciated areas there are extensive periglacial landscapes. However, the extent to which altitude and latitude modify periglacial forms and processes has not yet been investigated. Our team aims to make a first approach to the problem by analyzing three representative Study areas of a north- south transect of the Central and Southern Andes: Nevado Coropuna volcanic complex (16ºS, 73ºW, 6377 m), in the Arequipa region (Peru); Cerro Aconcagua (33ºS, 70ºW, 6960 m), in Mendoza (Argentina) and Cerro Alvear (54ºS, 68ºW, 1490 m), in the Argentinean side of Tierra del Fuego. In the last 20 years we have identified different periglacial processes linked to permafrost, such as: rock glaciers, protalus ramparts, debris lobes, patterned grounds including tundra polygons associated with active ice wedges, cryo-ejected clast, tors, nivation hollows or boulder (clast) pavements. This periglacial activity probably records aspects of current interests, as climate change, interhemispheric teleconnections, or ENSO phenomenon, which modify snow cover. Understanding this record is an interesting geomorphological challenge that we begin to address by presenting this work

Ensayo de métodos para reconstruir el volumen de los glaciares, en 2016, 1962 y la Pequeña Edad del Hielo, en el valle Suiricocha, Cordillera Pariacaca, Perú

Este trabajo presenta una metodología que permite estimar los espesores del hielo actual (2016) en función al modelamiento de la topografía subglaciar aplicando la herramienta Glaciar Reconstruction (GLABTOP). Así mismo, se complementa el desarrollo de Glacier Reconstruction (GLARE) que consiste en reconstruir los paleoglaciares (1962 y PEH), esta última a través de morrenas dejadas por los glaciares en el pasado

Recent and ongoing transformations of the Nevado Coropuna tropical cryosphere (Central Andes): the Ground-Penetrating Radar perspective

The evaluation of presence and origin of ground-ice in the non-glaciated peripheral areas of Nevado Corpuna can contribute to a more refined estimation of its real extent, as well as of the ongoing and recent transformation processes (i.e. permafrost aggradation/degradation). We carried out GPR surveys in sectors immediately outside the glacial tongues which diverge from the glaciated area, both on rock glaciers and debris-covered glaciers. The data acquisition was made with an unshielded antenna operating at a central frequency of 25 MHz, and according longitudinal and cross profiles. We defined a processing sequence particularly effective in removing in air-reflections generated by isolated blocks on the surface, and the numerous point-source diffractions. The signal-to-noise ratio consents a data imaging interpretable up to 25-30 m of depth, according to the estimated velocity of GPR waves propagation. In some sectors we calibrated the GPR data (depth and reflection amplitude) with those obtained from Vertical Electric Sounding. The rock glaciers examined show a reflective pattern consistent with a permafrost that extends from 2-4 m to more than 20 m depth. The GPR reflections also depict a permafrost stratigraphic architecture, and potential deformation structures in the frozen layers (i.e. shear planes). The GPR profiles made on debris-covered glaciers show a high-amplitude reflection consistent with the presence of near-surface (2-3 m depth) (sedimentary) ice, which in depth exhibits a radar facies less characterized by reflection events than those of rock glaciers. Also in this case an ice stratigraphy and potential deformation features in layers highly rich in ice are visible. The GPR data allowed a view of ice-ground presence in the ice-free areas in Nevado Coropuna and can be integrated with the glaciological evolution of the last decades to build a forecasting model that considers the transformation from clean-ice to debris-covered glacier or permafrost landforms

Análisis de la cobertura nival y el albedo y su relación con el fenómeno ENSO y la evolución del permafrost en los estratovolcanes Coropuna y Chachani (Región Arequipa)

La cobertura nival y glaciar de los volcanes Chachani y Coropuna ha experimentado un rápido retroceso en las últimas décadas debido al cambio climático. Este trabajo tiene como objetivo analizar la relación entre la cobertura nival y el albedo en Chachani y Coropuna, y fenómeno El Niño Oscilación Sur (ENSO) mediante imágenes de alta resolución temporal y baja resolución espacial. La técnica desarrollada en el procesamiento de imágenes ha permitido extraer información relaciona con las anomalías de variables climáticas mediante filtros en el dominio temporal y de frecuencia. Los resultados de las correlaciones muestran periodos alrededor de tres años relacionando al fenómeno ENSO con la cobertura nival en las áreas de estudio