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Textbook Ebook Iberia Land of Glaciers How The Mountains Were Shaped by Glaciers 1St Edition Marc Oliva Editor All Chapter PDF
Textbook Ebook Iberia Land of Glaciers How The Mountains Were Shaped by Glaciers 1St Edition Marc Oliva Editor All Chapter PDF
Edited by
Marc Oliva
David Palacios
José M. Fernández-Fernández
Elsevier
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ISBN: 978-0-12-821941-6
v
Contents
vi
Contents
Chapter 4.4: The glaciers of the eastern massifs of Cantabria, the Burgos
Mountains and the Basque Country ............................................. 157
Enrique Serrano, Manuel Gómez-Lende and
Marı´a Jose´ González-Amuchastegui
1. The glacial landscapes of the Eastern Cantabrian Mountains ........................... 157
2. The discovery and study of glacial landforms.................................................... 160
3. The distribution of glacial landforms in the Eastern
Cantabrian Mountains .......................................................................................... 162
3.1 The Pas Mountains: glacial dissymmetry between the Atlantic and
Mediterranean slopes .......................................................................................... 162
3.2 The Basque Mountains: small glaciers sheltered at the summits ..................... 165
4. Chronology of glacial landforms in the Eastern Cantabrian Mountains ........... 169
5. The Trueba Valley: an example of the low-altitude Quaternary
glacial development in the Cantabrian Mountains ............................................. 172
6. The significance of the glacial landforms in the Pas and
Basque Mountains in the context of the climatic evolution
of the Iberian Peninsula ....................................................................................... 175
References................................................................................................................. 176
Chapter 4.5: The glaciers of the Montaña Palentina ......................................... 179
Ramón Pellitero
1. The geographical framework ............................................................................... 179
2. The discovery of glacial landforms..................................................................... 182
3. The distribution of glacial landforms.................................................................. 183
4. The chronology of glacial landforms .................................................................. 189
5. The Carrión glacial valley: the largest glacier ice field tongue in
Carrión-Peña Prieta Massif.................................................................................. 191
6. The significance of the glacial landforms of the Montaña Palentina
in the context of the climatic evolution of the Iberian Peninsula...................... 195
Acknowledgments..................................................................................................... 197
References................................................................................................................. 197
Chapter 4.6: The glaciers of the western massifs of Cantabria........................... 201
Enrique Serrano, Manuel Gómez-Lende and Alfonso Pisabarro
1. The geographical framework ............................................................................... 201
2. The discovery and study of glacial landforms.................................................... 204
3. The distribution of glacial landforms.................................................................. 206
3.1 Glacial development in the Sierra de Peña Sagra ............................................. 206
3.2 Glacial development in the Alto Campoo and the sierras of Cordel,
Peña Labra and Hı́jar.......................................................................................... 208
4. The chronology of glacial landforms .................................................................. 211
5. The glacial valley of Brañavieja, Alto Campoo ................................................. 212
vii
Contents
viii
Contents
Chapter 4.9: The glaciers of the Central-Western Asturian Mountains ............... 265
Jesús Ruiz-Fernández, Benjamı´n González-Dı´az,
David Gallinar Cañedo and Cristina Garcı´a-Hernández
1. The geographical framework ............................................................................... 265
2. The discovery and study of glacial landforms.................................................... 269
3. The distribution of glacial landforms.................................................................. 271
4. The chronology of glacial landforms .................................................................. 276
5. The Puerto de Ventana, a representative site in the central-western
sector of the Asturian Mountains ........................................................................ 280
6. The significance of the glacial landforms of the central-western
sector of Asturias in the context of the climatic evolution
of the Iberian Peninsula ....................................................................................... 284
References................................................................................................................. 285
Chapter 4.10: The glaciers of the Leonese Cantabrian Mountains ...................... 289
Javier Santos-González, Jose´ Marı´a Redondo-Vega,
Alipio Garcı´a-de Celis, Rosa Blanca González-Gutie´rrez and
Amelia Gómez-Villar
1. The geographical framework ............................................................................... 289
2. The discovery of glacial landforms..................................................................... 293
3. The distribution of glacial landforms.................................................................. 295
4. The chronology of glacial landforms .................................................................. 302
5. The Sil glacier complex: ice field, transfluent glaciers, and
alpine glaciers ...................................................................................................... 303
6. The significance of the glacial landforms of the Leonese Cantabrian
Mountains in the context of the climatic evolution of the
Iberian Peninsula.................................................................................................. 309
Acknowledgments..................................................................................................... 310
References................................................................................................................. 310
Chapter 4.11: The glaciers of the Montes de León ........................................... 315
Jose´ Marı´a Redondo-Vega, Javier Santos-González,
Rosa Blanca González-Gutie´rrez and Amelia Gómez-Villar
1.The geographical framework ............................................................................... 315
2.The discovery of glacial landforms..................................................................... 318
3.The distribution of glacial landforms.................................................................. 319
4.The chronology of glacial landforms .................................................................. 326
5.The glacial morphology of the Vizcodillo Massif.............................................. 327
6.The significance of the glacial landforms of the Montes de León
in the context of the climatic evolution of the Iberian Peninsula...................... 330
Acknowledgments..................................................................................................... 332
References................................................................................................................. 332
ix
Contents
x
Contents
xi
Contents
xii
Contents
6. The significance Pyrenean glaciers in the context of climate change ............... 547
References................................................................................................................. 548
Chapter 5: Iberia: land of the ancient glaciers .................................................. 555
Marc Oliva, David Palacios and Jose´ M. Fernández-Fernández
1. The singularity of the Iberian Peninsula in the context of the
world’s recent glacial evolution .......................................................................... 555
2. The uniqueness of the Iberian glacial landscapes .............................................. 559
3. The legacy of previous glaciations to the last glacial cycle in Iberia ............... 568
4. The maximum extent of glaciers in Iberia during the last glacial cycle........... 569
5. The Iberian evidence of glacial oscillations during Termination I.................... 573
6. Glacial activity during the Holocene in Iberian mountains ............................... 575
7. The Little Ice Age in Iberia: the gateway to the current glacial retreat ........... 576
8. Pyrenean glaciers, the last Iberian ice ................................................................ 577
9. The anthropogenic impact on glacial morphologies........................................... 579
References................................................................................................................. 582
List of abbreviations ..................................................................................................589
Index ........................................................................................................................591
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Contributors
xv
Contributors
xvi
Preface
Standing between two seas and two continents, the Iberian Peninsula is home to high
mountains, both in the periphery and at the center, with a mixed orography characteristic of
its Mediterranean location. The mountains run along almost all of the peninsula’s
boundaries as well as the high inland areas (the Meseta), which share many of the
distinctive features of mountain environments, and high peaks are found only a few tens of
kilometers from the coast. The complexity of the relief results in a diversity of climates and
a wide variety of landscapes, particularly in the mountains, where high vertical gradients
accentuate contrasts and create unique ecosystems.
The mountains in Iberia have long been part of the idiosyncrasy of its inhabitants thanks to
the mountaineinteriorecoast triad; the mountains provided water, pastures, medicinal
plants, wood, etc., while the plains offered the basis of the Mediterranean dietdbread,
wine, and oil. Trade and fishing have flourished along its coasts, which are calmer on the
Mediterranean side and wilder and more rugged on the Atlantic side. Therefore, one cannot
comprehend the uniqueness of the current landscape of the entire Iberian Peninsula without
understanding the role that the mountainous areas have played in its evolution.
As in other Alpine regions, the perception of high peaks has varied over time. Their caves
and shelters were the refuges of Neanderthal men during the cold Quaternary phases, from
where they hunted and gathered wild fruits on the ice-free slopes. The high peaks and valley
bottoms were occupied by glaciers. With the deglaciation and progressive human occupa-
tion of the highest lands, particularly during the Neolithic in the Mediterranean (7e5 ka),
the mountains began to be domesticated; mining and, above all, transhumance, facilitated a
gradual colonization of the Iberian mountains by incipient human communities settled in its
vicinity. The fear of the dangers posed by the mountains gradually disappeared as knowl-
edge of their landscapes and the resources they offered increased, particularly since the Age
of Enlightenment, which encouraged the study of alpine environments from a rational and
academic perspective. Gradually, respect for the mountains turned into admiration for their
landscapes, as seen in the first illustrated attempts to explain the reasons for their attractive-
ness and the boom in hiking during the 19th century. Since then, and at a very accelerated
pace during the last century, society has surrendered to the romanticism of its landscapes,
sacralizing the high mountains and the harmony of its inhabitants’ lifestyles.
xvii
Preface
The current landscape of the Iberian mountains is, fundamentally, a consequence of the
intense reshaping of the Quaternary ice carved on structures sculpted by tectonics over
millions of years. The book that you have in your hands aims, therefore, to bring you closer
to the times when Iberian mountains were stained with perpetual white. Referring to all the
mountain areas that were flooded by ice in the Last Ice Age, this book brings together the
current state of the glacial knowledge pertaining to our mountains as well as the climatic
conditions that favored the development and disappearance of glaciers. Experts in the
glacial geomorphologies of some 20 mountain regions drew up detailed descriptions of the
impacts of the glaciers on their landscapes, from the glaciations that occurred more than
100,000 years ago to the last glacial strongholds that persist today in the Pyrenees as a
legacy of those Quaternary cold phases.
From the viewpoint of glacial geomorphology, the Iberian Peninsula is one of the best
studied areas of the planet. For this reason, the editors hope that this book, along with its
conceptual analyses and case studies, will constitute a reference manual for Iberian
researchers and those from other regions affected, in the past and present, by glacial
processes. The results presented here should be a starting point inspiring a new generation
of researchers to address the gaps that still exist in our knowledge of the glacial
paleoenvironments of the Iberian mountains as well as the deglaciation process that
continues to this day.
It is to be expected that, within a few decades, the current glacial trend will see the end of
the last vestiges of glacial ice that are preserved in the highest mountains of the peninsula
and bear witness to a recent past in which most of these mountains were extensively
covered with ice. The accelerated retreat of the remaining mountain glaciers underscores the
fragilities of their ecosystems and provides proof of the need to preserve their landscapes
for generations to come.
Marc Oliva
David Palacios
José M. Fernández-Fernández
xviii
Introduction
xix
Introduction
discovery of its glacial landforms, as well as a detailed explanation of its distribution and
chronology. Finally, each chapter ends with a representative example of the relevant area
and highlights its uniqueness in the context of Iberian glacial development.
The book concludes with a section where the evidence described for each of the areas
examined in detail in the previous chapters is integrated with its relevance for Iberia as a
whole, allowing us to understand the temporal and spatial frameworks of the different
climatic phases that conditioned the development and retreat of the ice masses. Thus, the
climatic sensitivity of the Iberian Peninsula, namely the small variations in its temperature
and rainfall regimes, which determined the advances or retreats of the ice during the
Quaternary, is highlighted, although these glacial oscillations were not synchronous and
also responded to the orographic complexity of the peninsula. All these aspects
demonstrate the uniqueness of glacial landscapes and their need for protection in a land,
Iberia, whose mountains were shaped by the ice that almost no longer exists.
xx
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pane; un’altra ove ponevasi a fermentare su tavole disposte l’una
sull’altra lungo il muro, e quindi una terza ove riponevasi già cotto.
Presso era la stalla degli asini che giravano le mole, secondo il
metodo più usitato. In questo pistrino si trovarono quattro macine un
po’ più basse delle consuete d’altrove, formate da un cono concavo
che si volge su di un altro convesso, anfore di grano e farina, e sul
muro del Pistrino, vedesi un dipinto che esprimeva un sagrificio alla
Dea Fornace e diversi uccelli. È forse la panatteria migliore che si
scoperse finora.
Un altro forno publico è nel lato sinistro della casa di Fortunata
presso quella di Pansa, con tre mulini, sull’un dei quali leggesi Sex.
Sulla bocca del forno vi era un phallus colorito in rosso ed al di sopra
scritta la leggenda hic habitat felicitas, novella prova che
l’emblema non fosse unicamente a segno di mal costume, ma
piuttosto a felice augurio ed a scongiuro di disgrazia, come già ebbi il
destro di sostenere. Nella bottega attigua di panatteria esisteva una
pittura rappresentante un serpente, simbolo di una divinità custode,
e rimpetto una croce latina in basso rilievo. Sarebbe questo segno
un indizio del sospetto da me già espresso che la religione di Cristo
fosse già penetrata in Pompei? Faccio voti che i futuri scavi abbiano
ad offerire maggiori dati, che il sospetto e l’induzione abbiano a
mutare in certezza assoluta.
Sull’angolo della via del Panatico, un’altra panatteria ha un gran
forno con quattro mulini. Su due d’essi leggonsi le parole sex e
sohal in caratteri rossi e sopra il forno vedevasi una figura
rappresentante evidentemente un magistrato che distribuiva pane al
popolo.
Nella viottola della Fontana del Bue, si è pure trovato un pistrino con
tre macine, un gran forno a corrente d’aria e delle madie foderate di
piombo.
D’un’ultima panatteria terrò conto, scoperta nel 1868 ed
appartenente a Paquio Proculo, al quale apparteneva pure la casa.
Essa è nella Via Stabiana (Regione VII, Isola II). Il chiarissimo
Minervini lesse dipinta sulla parete sinistra della casa la seguente
epigrafe, che oggi è frammentata per la caduta dell’intonaco:
PROCVLE . FRONTONI
TVO . OFFICIVM . COMMODA
e l’altra così:
MARCVM CERRINIVM AEDILEM
POMARII ROGANT
Ciò che vuol essere osservato si è che in queste botteghe, che sono
circostanti al Tempio di Augusto, si sono rinvenuti molti oggetti
preziosi e d’arte, fra quali una statuetta di bronzo rappresentante
una Vittoria con armille d’oro alle braccia; un’altra in marmo; Venere
che si asciuga i capelli, come sorgesse allora dalle spume dell’Ionio
mare, colla parte inferiore velata da un drappo dipinto in rosso; una
bella tazza d’alabastro, anelli d’oro, gemme, sistri isiaci, un vaso di
vaghissimo lavoro, amuleti, strigili e diverse monete.
Sarà negli ulteriori scavi che verrà dato indubbiamente di scoprire
taberne d’altre cose mangerecce, e soprattutto lanienae, o botteghe
da beccai e macelli, la principale opera e materia prima dei quali
veniva somministrata dai templi, per le continue vittime che vi si
immolavano, per lo più in buoi, giovenche e pecore; e se agli Dei si
bruciavano ciocche di lana e qualche inutile interiora, tutt’al più
spruzzate da vino e mescolate di fiori, il meglio veniva accortamente
goduto dai sacerdoti pel loro uso, e venduto nuovamente ai gonzi, di
cui si costituisce la maggior parte del pubblico, che a ragion di
divozione avevano fatto prima l’offerta. I macellai dell’antichità erano
adunque principalmente i sacerdoti.
Della bottega del Chirurgo e del Seplasarius o farmacista e di quella
di prodotti chimici, ho già detto nel Capitolo delle Scuole; di quella
dello scultore mi occuperò nel venturo delle Belle Arti, come anche
del mercante de’ colori; perocchè meglio vi si trovino in essi collocati,
come materia che a que’ capitoli ha tutto il suo riferimento.
Nella stradicciuola di Mercurio, gli scavi trovarono nel 1853 un
Myropolium, o bottega da profumiere, detta anche, come la vediam
nominata in Varrone e Svetonio, unguentaria taberna [290]. Già
superiormente ho toccato dello spreco di profumi, aromi ed unguenti
che si faceva a quei tempi di grande effeminatezza in Roma e in
tutto l’orbe a lei soggetto. Non era soltanto, cioè, del mondo
muliebre; ma pur degli uomini. All’uscire del letto, prima d’entrare nel
bagno, nel bagno e dopo, era costume di ugnersi e di profumarsi;
altrettanto facevasi nelle case prima del pasto e avanti comparire in
pubblico e prima di coricarsi; ogni occasione era buona per
ispargersi il corpo e le vestimenta di odorose essenze, per ungere i
capelli e perfino per profumare camere ed appartamenti. Già abbiam
veduto nel capitolo dell’Anfiteatro come si facesse eziandio all’aperto
assai gitto di croco: si può pertanto argomentare cosa dovesse
essere negli appartamenti chiusi: a suo luogo vedremo,
specialmente nel triclinio e ne’ funerali.
Ma più che tutto, era nell’amore che di profumi si abusava, come
eccitanti e preparatori allo stesso. È noto, scrive Dufour [291], che il
muschio, il zibetto, l’ambra grigia e gli altri odori animali portati nelle
vesti, nei capelli, in tutte le parti del corpo esercitano un’azione
attivissima sul sistema nervoso e sugli organi della generazione. Nè
solo adoperavano esternamente detti profumi, ma non temevano di
far entrare aromi e spezie in quantità nel giornaliero loro alimento;
onde a ciò si voglia ascrivere quell’appetito e prurito continuo che
tormentava la romana società e che la spingeva in tutti gli eccessi
dell’amor fisico.
La lussuria asiatica portò seco tali profumi e d’allora in poi, così
prodigioso fu il consumo delle sostanze aromatiche, che parve non
bastare quanto inviava la Persia, l’Arabia e tutto l’Oriente insieme.
S’era insomma venuto a tal punto, da aver ragione Plauto, quando
nella Mostellaria usciva in questi accenti:
. . . tonstricem Suram
Novisti nostram, quæ modo erga ædes habet [294].