Pleistocene and Holocene Periglacial Forms in the Cantabrian Mountains (NW Spain)

DARIO TROMBOTTO LIAUDAT; VICTORIA ALONSO

Fairbanks, Alaska

Conferencia; Ninth International Conference on Permafrost; 2008

Edited by Douglas L. Kane and Kenneth M. Hinkel, Institute of Northern Engineering, University of Alaska

Detailed geomorphological mapping of a deglaciated area in the Cantabrian Mountains (CM) has revealed a great variety of periglacial forms that have been ascribed to different cryomeres during and following deglaciation. The CM, with frequent altitudes around 2000 m, show erosional and depositional glacial features related to the Pleistocene last glacial cycle; distribution of till, erratic blocks and glacially abraded surfaces indicate ice thicknesses up to 400 m in some areas (Alonso & Suárez Rodríguez, 2004), while glacier fronts reached altitudes around 900 m a.s.l. in many of the valleys. A geomorphological map, at a 1:5000 scale, was made for a sector to the south of the main watershed characterized by a homogeneous bedrock. The map has been analyzed in a regional context. This zone around El Miro peak, 1985 m, shows a strong asymmetry in processes and forms. Most of them are fossil features. Rock glaciers, felsenmeer, protalus, boulder lobes, solifluction forms, and talus deposits were developed, from glacially derived material or from cryosediment, on cold slopes.