Geomorphology of the Courel Mountains Unesco Global Geopark (Galicia, NW Iberian Peninsula)

Abstract

The Courel Mountains Geopark is in Galicia, Northwest Spain. Its total area is 578.29 km2. Parallel valleys and ridges characterize its relief from North to South. Their maximum altitude reaches 1,641 m. Their lithology is dominated by slates, quartzites, and limestones, together with small diabase outcrops. Materials are intensely fractured due to the tectonic dynamics that started during the Cenozoic, and sedimentary formations accumulated in response to environmental changes during the Pleistocene are abundant. As a result, a wide variety of structural landforms are present, along with a wide range of landforms and deposits of alluvial, fluvial, glacial, and periglacial origin. All of them have been mapped to enable sustainable use and management aimed at improving the livelihood of the inhabitants of the geopark area, which has suffered depopulation in recent decades.