Human-Derived Environmental Consequences for Three Sedimentary Systems of The Canary Islands (Spain) – a Study of Changes and Impacts: a Synthesis

A.M. Santana Cordero

doi:10.18172/cig.4932

Authors

A.M. Santana Cordero Instituto Universitario de Análisis y Aplicaciones Textuales (IATEXT), Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC) http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2210-1980

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18172/cig.4932

Keywords:

dunes, major land change processes, environmental consequences, coastal arid environments, Canary Islands

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship in three sedimentary systems of the Canary Islands (Spain) between four major land change processes (resource extraction, urbanization, tourism and nature protection) and six main environmental consequences (impacts on aeolian sedimentary dynamics, changes in sand landforms, disappearance of sand landforms and entire systems, changes in vegetation, impacts on the socioeconomic system, and changes in land use patterns). The results show that all the environmental consequences have impacted all three study sites, except in one of them (La Graciosa island) in producing disappearance of sand landforms and entire systems. It should be noted that the environmental consequences described concerns different scales (from entire systems to landforms). All the impacts are described and analyzed separately, and the results are discussed in detail and in relation to the presence of these environmental consequences in other parts of the world.

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Author Biography

A.M. Santana Cordero, Instituto Universitario de Análisis y Aplicaciones Textuales (IATEXT), Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC)

Posdoc Researcher

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