Landscape Research and Mediterranian Mountain Paleoenvironment Research Group
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Presentation |
Our mayor aim is the understanding of past and modern natural variability in landscape evolution and, particularly, in mountain environments. The interdisciplinary research projects cover different time scales from past environmental conditions to modern processes and focus mainly on the western Mediterranean mountains (Spanish Sierra Nevada and eastern Pyrenees) and basins (Vera basin, Sorbas basin, Penedès basin, etc.) but include also other areas as the Alps e.g. Special attention is also paid to the influence of human impact and land-use on past ecosystems. Our research projects are financed mainly by the Ministry of Science and Technology; the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports; the European Commission; the Autonomous Catalan Government; and the Alexander von Humboldt-Foundation. The reconstruction of palaeoenvironments as the base for palaeoclimatic interpretations is necessary for the understanding of present climate changes. For the reconstruction of past environments, we use natural archives as glacial, periglacial, fluvial, lacustrine deposits, palaeosols and pollen records. From these multi-proxy data, we try to improve the understanding of landscape evolution, climate changes and possible human influence. The knowledge of landscape evolution during the Quaternary is indispensable for the understanding and appropriate management of many present environmental problems. Regarding modern processes, our studies turn to periglacial phenomena. Mediterranean mountains are sensitive to climate warming since they are affected by the post-Little Ice Age degeneration of local permafrost and seasonally frozen ground. Therefore, we undertake geomorphometric and thermal monitoring of periglacial features to detect changes in ground temperatures and associated morphological dynamics. |