Geomorphology of the Curueño River headwaters, Cantabrian mountains (NW Spain)

Abstract

The article presents the 1:25,000-scale geomorphological map of the upper reaches of the Curueño River, on the southern slope of the Central Cantabrian Mountains, NW Spain. The study area spans approximately 125 km2 and corresponds to the 1:25,000-scale Spanish National Topographical Map Sheet 104-I of Lugueros. The area is moderately mountainous with elevation ranging from 1100 to 2100 m.a.s.l. The main landforms are river gorges, karst, and glacial landforms. The map legend contains 78 elements divided into 9 groups: litho-structural, polygenic, karst, fluvial, glacial, periglacial, nival, gravitational, weathering, and anthropic forms. The map was prepared using Esri ArcGIS with the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM, Zone 30) projection. In addition, a database and style set were created for each landform with the goal of using this set of symbols in other areas and performing complementary mapping of geologic and geomorphologic risk, protection of natural geoheritage, land-use classification, and applied geomorphology.

Keywords

• Geomorphological map
• geographic information system (GIS)
• Cantabrian Mountains
• fluvial landforms
• karst landforms
• glacial landforms