Iberia, Land of Glaciers - by Marc Oliva & David Palacios & José M Fernández-Fernández (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Iberia, Land of Glaciers: How The Mountains Were Shaped By Glaciers discusses the impact of past glaciers in the current landscape of Iberia. Currently, there are only small glaciers in the highest peaks of the Pyrenees that are the legacy of the last cold period that ended at the end of the 19th century: The Little Ice Age. However, an accurate observation of the landscape of the highest peaks and adjacent valleys of the Iberian Peninsula reveals a past shaped by the successive passage of glaciers with hundreds of meters of ice, similar to what happens today in the Alps or Patagonia.

Iberian glaciation has resulted in ice expansion through valleys that are now used by the road network and where important populations settle; in addition, large accumulations of sediments deposited by those glaciers are still unstable today and can trigger risks for mountain populations. Iberia, Land of Glaciers presents the impact of the glaciers in the landscape of mountains following a more educational perspective with examples of 21 Iberian massifs written by specialists from each of the areas.