Ángel Martín-Serrano

Are talus flatiron sequences in Spain climate-controlled landforms?

Summary. This study provides chronological evidence of the influence of climatic variability in the generation of late Quaternary talus flatiron sequences in Spain. The temporal clustering of the OSL and radiocarbon dates obtained from talus flatiron deposits indicates that warm/wet and cold/dry periods controlled the accumulation and incision processes in the slopes, respectively, that led to the development of talus flatirons. These results strongly suggest that talus flatiron sequences constitute valuable paleoclimatic records. Additional and more accurate geochronological data from Spain and other regions of the world would improve the potential of these poorly-known landforms in paleoenvironmental studies.

The Geology and Geomorphology of Spain: A Concise Introduction

Spain has a remarkable geomorphological diversity largely due to its geological and climatic variety. From the geological perspective, the Iberian Peninsula may be divided in two broad geological domains; the Iberian Massif in the western sector, and the mountains belts and Cenozoic basins related to Alpine tectonics in the eastern sector. The Iberian Massif (Variscan Spain) mainly consists of Paleozoic metamorphosed sedimentary formations intruded by plutonic rocks. This region is characterised by extensive planation surfaces locally interrupted by inselbergs, and includes outstanding examples of granitic landscapes. The Alpine Mountain Belts, related to the convergence between Europe, the Iberian microplate, and Africa, contain excellent examples of landscapes controlled by active tectonics. In these Alpine orogens, extensive limestone outcrops have favoured the development of outstanding poljes, dolines and karren fields Glacial landscapes are best developed in the Pyrenees, which still contain a number of active cirque glaciers. The Cenozoic Basins include some of the finest areas to examine stunning conglomerate monoliths, dramatic badlands, dune fields, deflation basins associated with lunette dunes and yardangs, and a wide variety of features related to evaporite dissolution. The Canarian Archipelago is a late Cenozoic chain of hot-spot-related volcanic islands located in the Atlantic Ocean west of the Sahara coast. The evolution of the Canaries is characterised by the growth of large volcanic edifices, punctuated by the development of giant landslides. The Teide volcano (3,718 m a.s.l.) in Tenerife rises more than 7 km above the adjacent abyssal plain. A total of 18 eruptions have been documented over the last 500 years, some of them with great societal impact; the 1730-1736 Timanfaya eruption covered more than 20 % of Lanzarote island. The around 10,000 km-long coastline of the Spanish territory display a wide variety of coastal landscapes, including rias, estuaries sequences of raised beaches, deltas, lagoons and spit bars, and dune fields.