Evolución del relieve de los Montes Galaico-Leoneses mediante aplicación de Modelos Digitales de Elevación (Noroeste de España)

Abstract

The study area, located in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, is characterized by a very long and complex geomorphological evolution. The most important geomorphological features in the area are the mountain reliefs formed by the Cantabrian Cordillera in the North and Northwest, and the Leoneses Mountains in the South and Southeast (with maximum heights around 2100m), with El Bierzo intramountain basin in the center, and the northwesternmost part of the Duero basin (around 500 m and 800 m respectively). This work aims to organize this puzzle by means of the mapping of erosional surfaces in order to enhance the geomorphological evolution in this area with a major tectonic influence. Based on the application of Digital Elevation Models in a Geographical Information System, several erosional surfaces were mapped related to their structural context and chronology. A total number of 24 surfaces have been distinguished, allowing two kinds of relationships between them: one linked to alpine deformations, and the other provoked by differential erosion associated with lithological changes. All these data allowed the reconstruction of the relief evolution in the study area.