RT Journal Article
T1 Combining allostratigraphic and lithostratigraphic perspectives to compile subregional records of fluvial responsiveness: The case of the sustainably entrenching Palancia River watershed (Mediterranean coast, NE Spain)
A1 Houben, Peter
A1 Hoinkis, Ralf
A1 Santisteban Navarro, Juan Ignacio
A1 Salat, Christina
A1 Mediavilla López, Rosa María
AB We use a combined allostratigraphic and morpholithostratigraphic approach to establish a relative stratigraphy of macroscale sediment-landform units in the Mediterranean Palancia River watershed (986-km2, NE Spain). Four alloformations signifying important changes in (sub)regional scale geomorphic valley-floor evolution were identified based on data from 1120 field sites and age determinations, and from analyzing high resolution geodata. The formation of the widespread and thick Pleistocene alloformation can be attributed to climatically-induced excessive sediment supply and flood activities during Pleistocene cold intervals — rather than representing time-lagging response to Plio/Pleistocene neotectonic uplift. Triggered by the turn to Holocene climatic conditions, three successively inset alloformations illustrate how stream grading and floodplain narrowing continuously have progressed over the Holocene. The overall degradational valley-floor evolution in the Holocene is interpreted as a response to the antecedent, overly valley-floor aggradation. Allostratigraphic and morphostratigraphic data suggest that the abandonment of the two earlier Holocene alloformations geomorphologically represents a pulsed turn toward intensified entrenchment rather than pulsed sedimentation. The most important benefit of amalgamating allostratigraphic and (morpho)lithostratigraphic concepts is that allostratigraphic ordering provides a formally conclusive approach to scale up (morpho)lithostratigraphic information from the reach scale to much larger scales of geographical extent. Consequently, applying allostratigraphic principles opens a perspective to moving forward toward analyzing the relationships between climate, neotectonics, sea level change, human impact, and fluvial response in coupled hinterland-coastal systems that require to evaluate sedimentary information at larger spatial scales.
PB Elsevier
SN 0169-555X
YR 2011
FD 2011-03-03
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/43497
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/43497
LA eng
NO Received 20 September 2010 / Received in revised form 24 February 2011 / Accepted 26 February 2011 / Available online 3 March 2011.© 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
NO Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
DS Docta Complutense
RD 22 abr 2025