María José Domínguez-Cuesta

The Picos de Europa National and Regional Parks

The E–W trending Cantabrian Mountains, with peaks more than 2,600 m a.s.l., are located along the northern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. After the development of south-verging structures during the Alpine Orogeny, the Cantabrian Mountains were arranged as an asymmetrical relief deeply dissected by the fluvial network, with steep rivers flowing into the Cantabrian Sea in the north and less steep rivers draining towards the Duero Tertiary Basin to the south. The area shows a high geomorphic diversity, including relict Quaternary glacial and periglacial landforms, as well as features related to slope instability, fluvial and karstic processes. This work summarizes the geomorphological features of two different protected areas of the Cantabrian Mountains designated as Picos de Europa: the Picos de Europa National Park and the Picos de Europa Regional Park. Both are representative areas of the high-mountain landscapes of the northern and southern sectors of the Cantabrian Mountains. Moreover, the former hosts good examples of underground alpine karst.

Groundwater contamination in caves: four case studies in Spain

INTRODUCTION Soil and vadose zone of aquifers act as protective covers to groundwater (Mudry et al., 2003), so specific studies of subsurface water flow and solute transport that could be contaminants in both environments are necessary. These studies are essential for a better understanding of the attenuation factors affecting the contaminants before their arrival to the underground resource. The methodology applied to the study of porous aquifers is different from that applied to carbonate (karstic) aquifers (Stephens, 1����� Selker et al., 1���). The reason for this difference is

Favorability functions based on kernel density estimation for logistic models: A case study

Susceptibility or hazard models are often established by means of logistic regression techniques in order to describe the effect of a group of explanatory variables on the probability of a dichotomous or binary response. Since the available variables do not always meet the assumptions of logit-linearity of the logistic regression, a modified approach is proposed. Firstly a favorability function associated with each explanatory variable based on the conditional probability measures is introduced. Next, a simple transformation based on the empirical probability function for non-continuous variables is suggested, while nonparametric kernel estimation is considered for continuous ones. The favorability-based transformations lead to new explanatory variables for the logistic regression model. The performance of the method is evaluated using simulated data. In addition, a real case-study is presented, in which a GIS-based landslides susceptibility model is carried out.

Geoheritage and Geodiversity Evaluation of Endokarst Landscapes: The Picos de Europa National Park, North Spain

The endokarst presents a spectacular Geoheritage involving many singular features with thousands to millions years in age. The Picos de Europa National Park has one of the most important karst landscapes in the world. The endokarst of Picos de Europa shows high natural, scientific, and cultural values mainly related to cave features, with a spectacular vertical development (14 % of known world caves deeper than 1 km), the presence of geomorphological and sedimentary records related to the Quaternary evolution of the Cantabrian Mountain Range, and the traditional and sport uses of the cavities. The aim of this work is to inventory and to evaluate the Geoheritage and Geodiversity of the endokarst of Picos de Europa National Park combining speleological data, field work, and geomorphological mapping from nine selected caves. As a result, the Picos de Europa Geodiverstiy features show a high variability: 75 different natural features have been recognized with a density ranging from 0.3 to 1.1 different features per cm2 of cave area.

Cliff Coast of Asturias

The Principality of Asturias (or simply Asturias) is a region located in the North of Spain (SW of Europe) limited by the Cantabrian Sea in the North and the Castilla y Leon, Cantabria and Galicia regions in the South, East and West respectively. The Asturias Coast represents around 30% of the Cantabrian Coast, the northern limit of the Iberian Peninsula, and is surrounded by the Cantabrian Sea. This sea represents the transition of the Atlantic Ocean to the Biscay Gulf, between Spain and France. Towards the South, the Cantabrian Coast is limited by the Cantabrian Mountains, up to 2,648 m altitude, which axis is located only at 20–50 km from the sea.

Environmental Study of Cave Waters: A Case Study in Las Herrerías Cave (Llanes, Spain)

Las Herrerias Cave (Llanes, North Spain) is a relevant cave due to its cave palaeolithic paintings. It was declared of Good Object of Cultural Interest by the Asturias Regional Government. It is located in a karst Carboniferous aquifer which surface involves farming, livestock and tourist use, as well as a discrete mining activity and an old quarry converted into a waste area above the karst massif. A hydrogeological research was carried out from 2007 to 2010 focusing on the impact of land use on the cave. The aim of this work is to highlight the importance of using hydrochemistry monitoring to determinate the impact of the land use on cave waters. Several sampling campaigns of rainfall, the waters inside and outside the cave and El Bolau spring were carried out. A sampling device was installed inside the cave to collect discrete samples of dripwater each 48 h in 1.5 l bottles. The array contains 24 bottles and was deployed for 48 days intervals. Results evidence that calcium bicarbonate is the dominant chemical component in all the sampled water. Some of them, collected under the waste area, show high values in NO3 −, Ba2+, TOC, K+, SO4 2−, Silicium, Fe, Si, PO4 3−and Sr2+, being indicative of an adverse effect on the quality of drip water.

Proposed Landslide Susceptibility Map of Canada Based on GIS

Landslides are especially damaging in Canada and despite their extensive occurrence, the exact location of instability is not homogeneous across the country and depends on several factors. Based on clear evidence it is known that there is a wide range in the scale and diversity of landslide environments, especially as they pertain to landslide problems.