Search

The article reports that autumn was extremely warm on the Mediterranean slope and in Cantabrian areas and very warm in the rest of mainland Spain. Topics include examines in the Balearic Islands it was extremely warm, while in the Canary Islands it had a variable character from one area to another resulting in a very warm set.

The cultivation of maize for human consumption started to spread through the Cantabrian region around the end of the sixteenth century. The adoption of the new crop was encouraged by the advent of the Little Ice Age, and the resulting crisis of subsistence, which forced Cantabrian peasants and farmers to search for alternatives to wheat. The importance of maize increased steadily and by the nineteenth century it had become the most important crop grown in the region. This had a number of economic and demographic consequences. In particular, it allowed peasants to produce a surplus that enabled them to become more involved in local and regional markets, providing an essential profit for otherwise precarious farm economies; and it encouraged such markets to become more integrated and more flexible in character. This article explores these issues by focusing on the case of Gipuzkoa, an area with a large amount of previously unused documentary sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Trabajos y Comunicaciones is the property of Universidad Nacional de La Plata and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Tiempos Modernos is the property of Tiempos Modernos and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

A detailed geomorphological map at 1:25,000 scale is presented for the Valdegovía valley (Álava, Northern Spain), located at the central zone of the Basque-Cantabrian Basin. The map has been developed after several field surveys, with the aid of GIS techniques and high resolution digital terrain models (DTM) derived from LiDAR datasets. The high resolution LiDAR DTMs have revealed uncountable ground features and slope breaks that frequently are hidden by dense forests. Considering the tectonic control and the current sub-Mediterranean climate of the studied area, most landforms and deposits in the Valdegovía valley respond to lithostructural, gravitational, karstic, fluvial, and anthropogenic morphogenesis. We conclude that the geomorphological evolution of the Valdegovía valley has been strongly conditioned by a structural control related with two main NW-SE trending asymmetric folds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The making of images has played an important role in the functioning of prehistoric societies because it is a tool of communication that contributes to the stability of social groups. First and foremost, the image can serve as a form of visual support for the collective myths that form the basis of culture, but all forms of imagery, figurative and non-figurative, can serve as significant markers within a society. Members of traditional societies can be defined by their membership in a group (clan, lineage, social status, etc.), which can be made visible through graphic signs that are made according to more or less strict rules known by all members of the larger society. Such distinctive marks can be applied directly to the body of each individual (through body painting, tattooing, scarification), but they can also be reproduced on external surfaces (such as cave or rock walls), and thus acquire the status of a representative in absentia. It has been proposed at various times that these graphic expressions, generally called "signs," constitute veritable "identity markers" that can be perceived at multiple levels. Within a group, they serve to signal the membership of each individual to a social status or category. In intergroup relationships, they can have a more general role as markers of territory or ethnicity (Leroi-Gourhan, 1981). Certain signs lend themselves particularly well to the social-markers hypothesis because they possess all of the characteristics required for this function. Such is the case of the quadrilateral signs from Upper Paleolithic contexts in the Cantabrian region, Spain. In the caves of El Castillo, La Pasiega, Altamira, and Las Chimeneas, relatively close together, we find groupings of signs that share a common quadrilateral structure but vary in terms of the arrangement of internal details. A formal analysis based on the method of correspondence analysis and other statistical tests reveals two primary groups based on these independent formal characteristics. This schema appears to the be product of a codified system that allows for a large number of variants with a high potential for distinction based on the flexible combination of a relatively small number of elements. These examples constitute a form of differential marking, of which numerous examples are known over time and across cultures, from the first modern humans to contemporary societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Trabajos y Comunicaciones is the property of Universidad Nacional de La Plata and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

ABSTRACT: This contribution reviews the evidence for technological continuity and change (both gradual and abrupt) among the classic Magdalenian, Azilian, Asturian and non‐coastal Mesolithic culture‐adaptive traditions against the backdrop of environmental change across the Pleistocene–Holocene (i.e. Bølling–Boreal) transition in Cantabrian Spain. It explores the interacting, non‐exclusive roles of environment, demography, subsistence and ‘tradition’ or historical contingency in explaining both inertia and change in the cultural records (including settlement, mobility, artistic activity and even world‐view or ideology) observed by archeologists in this long‐occupied, southerly wing of the classic Franco‐Cantabrian culture area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pterotheca hispanica nov. sp. is described from the basal beds ( Stimulograptus sedgwickii graptolite Zone) of the Formigoso Fm., in the Cantabrian Zone of the Iberian Massif, north-western Spain. This specialized bellerophontoid gastropod is for the first time recorded in the Silurian of peri-Gondwana; it is the only Aeronian species known so far. Its most closely allied relatives are from higher beds placed in the Telychian of Scotland. Pterotheca is considered a highly derived genus within the Pterothecinae of the Carinaropsidae, with the strongly reduced to absent coiling and the growth of the septum being synapomorphies. In the present work it is shown that not only the apical angle of the septum can be used to distinguish species, but also the relative length and width of the septum. In some cases, the slit may extend as far back as the anterior part of the internal septum. Silurian species were hitherto only found in marginal Laurentian and Eastern Avalonian settings. Pterotheca is absent from central Laurentia and Baltica, where it could be expected to be present based on its wide Ordovician distribution. In the light of this, the occurrence of the genus in the Aeronian of Spain seems difficult to explain, albeit the genus was present in peri-Gondwana prior to the end-Ordovician extinction. The extreme scarcity of described taxa recorded from Avalonia, Baltica and Iberia during the Early Silurian may explain this patchy distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the course of the last decades, new cave art discoveries such as La Garma, Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc, Le Reseau Clastres in the Niaux Cave, Cosquer and Cussac have allowed researchers to advance in context and spatial studies related to the art. This has been possible because the decorated chambers were intact at the moment of the discovery and, soon after, protocols were put in place to protect these invaluable records. These types of caves are a minority. In the Cantabrian region, most of the discoveries took place at the beginning of the 20th century and, in some cases, a few years after the first studies were published, the caves were greatly modified to prepare them for tourist visits in the 1950s. However, the study of historical documents can provide information regarding the context and the original spatial distribution of the caves. Using the available data from different historical sources such as pictures, descriptions, sketches, plans, etc. available in publications and unpublished materials, we can reconstruct, to a limited extent, the appearance of a cave in the moment of its discovery. The information gathered by the different researchers in the last hundred years to advance in the knowledge of La Pasiega cave in Puente Viesgo (Cantabria) is used to prove the validity of this approach. The results, combining information from the available sources and careful observation in the cave, are positive, allowing us to advance significantly in the understanding of the cave's spatial characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The behaviour of the sea breeze along the north coast of Spain is investigated using observations of two topographically contrasting sites together with simulations from the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. An objective and systematic selection method is used to detect sea-breeze days from a database of two summer months. The direction and intensity of the sea breeze are significantly affected by the topography of the area; indeed, the estimated sea-breeze intensity shows an opposite relationship with the cross-shore temperature gradient for both sites. WRF simulations reproduce the onset of the sea breeze, but some characteristics are not adequately simulated: they generally overestimate the wind speed, smooth the temperature evolution and they do not represent the correct interaction with the terrain-induced flows. Additionally, four sensitivity experiments are performed with the WRF model varying the Planetary Boundary Layer (PBL) scheme, as well as the grid analysis nudging for an anomalous case study which is incorrectly filtered. As the two simulations considering nudging reproduce an unreal (not observed) sea breeze, this day turns out to be of great interest: it allows to evaluate the influence of the passage of the sea-breeze front (SBF) in other variables mainly related to turbulence. Furthermore, the best model scores are obtained for the PBL scheme that does not use a TKE closure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the use of El Abrigo de la Castañera (Cantabria, Spain) as a stable during the Chalcolithic. Several lines of archaeological evidence support the use of the rock shelter as a corral. First, in the stratigraphy several fumiers were identified, which were composed of several lenses of gray and black ashes, rich in charcoal and organic matter and accumulated between 3000 and 2200 cal BP. Second, within those fumiers a rich macrofaunal assemblage was recovered. The results of the zooarchaeology study indicate that cattle was the most common species exploited at that time, followed by pigs, while Ovis/Capra are relatively scarce. This particular livestock composition is relatively uncommon within the Iberian context. However, a comparative study with other contemporaneous European sites has shown that the changes in animal exploitation depend on the particular climatic conditions on the Cantabrian region, more similar to the Atlantic ones than the Mediterranean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Las Caldas Cave is located in the middle valley of the Nalón River, in a setting widely occupied from the end of the Pleistocene until the Late Glacial Maximum. Level IX, which has been preserved in Chamber II, constitutes the first occupation of the Middle Magdalenian, in a very cold and humid phase of the climate at the end of the Older Dryas, with dates from 14347 ± 436 cal BC. The random distribution of the material record over the surface of the excavated area (H2-G2, H3-G3, H4-G4, G5), as well as the wealth and relevance of the materials recovered, require analysis of the floor of occupation from a spatial perspective in order to reveal the interrelations among the different elements comprising the whole archaeological floor. In addition, a study was made of the lithic and osseous industries from a techno-functional perspective, with a view to making an approximation of the activities carried out by the hunter-gatherer groups of the Cantabrian Middle Magdalenian. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The field and laboratory work carried out in recent decades have substantially changed our vision of various aspects of the Gravettian in the Cantabrian Region and the western Pyrenees. The objective of this work is to carry out a critical synthesis of the available data for the lithic industry of the Gravettian in this region, according to raw material procurement, exploitation strategies and typological markers. Thereby several aspects are of importance: (1) the alternating availability of high quality raw material, where two territories can be divided: one to the West, where raw material acquisition is showing a wide range of raw materials (notably flint, quartzite, quartz), and one to the East, where assemblages are completely dominated by a single raw material: flint; (2) the great similarity between different reduction strategies, mainly in relation to flint; and (3) an existing polymorphism throughout the territory in case of the tool types, within which protrude two typological groups: back elements and burins, notably the Noailles burins. The latter are massively present in the eastern part of the Cantabrian Region and the western Pyrenees. This variability does not seem to correspond to chronological phases, but has to be probably understood in functional terms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Avilés Canyon in the central Cantabrian margin is one of the largest submarine canyons in Europe, extending from the shelf edge at 130 m depth to 4765 m depth in the Biscay abyssal plain. In this paper we present the results of a year-round (March 2012 to April 2013) study of particle fluxes in this canyon and the adjacent continental slope. Three mooring lines equipped with automated sequential sediment traps, high-accuracy conductivity-temperature recorders and current meters allowed measuring total mass fluxes and their major components (lithogenics, calcium carbonate, opal and organic matter) in the settling material jointly with a set of environmental parameters. The integrated analysis of the data obtained from the moorings together with remote sensing images and meteorological and hydrographical data has shed light on the sources of particles and the across- and along margin mechanisms involved in their transfer to the deep. Our results allow interpreting the dynamics of the sedimentary particles in the study area. Two factors play a critical role: (i) direct delivery of river-sourced material to the narrow continental shelf, and (ii) major resuspension events caused by large waves and near bottom currents developing at the occasion of the rather frequent severe storms that are typical of the Cantabrian Sea. Wind direction and subsequent wind-driven currents largely determine the way sedimentary particles reach the canyon. While westerly winds favour the injection of sediments into the Avilés Canyon mainly by building an offshore transport in the bottom Ekman layer, easterly winds ease the offshore advection of particulate matter towards the Avilés Canyon and its adjacent western slope principally through the surface Ekman layer. Furthermore, repeated cycles of semidiurnal tides add an extra amount of energy to the prevailing bottom currents and actively contribute to keep a permanent background of suspended particles in near-bottom waters. High contents of lithogenics in settling particles at the three mooring stations confirm that riverine inputs are the principal source of particles to the Avilés Canyon, including the lowermost canyon, and the adjacent open slope. Primary production also has a strong influence on the amount and the composition of particulate matter, with more than 30% of the total mass flux being of biogenic origin (organic matter, opal and calcium carbonate). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Terpenoid, fat-soluble antioxidant and fatty acid (FA) composition of pasture as well as those of milk and cheese from a commercial sheep flock managed under extensive mountain grazing in the east region of the Cantabrian mountain (Northern Spain) was investigated. The grazing period lasted for 2 months and ewes were at late lactation stage. Plants, feces, bulk milk and cheese samples were collected on two sampling dates. The abundance of the dominating botanical families in the mountain pasture prevailed in the sheep diet of the commercial flock. Major terpenoids and tocols in the pasture appeared as major ones in milk and cheese, whereas C18 unsaturated FAs in milk and cheese were derived from the intake of C18 polyunsaturated FAs which were prevalent in the pasture. No carotene was detected in the dairy samples but retinol (free or esterified), derived from the intake of β -carotene present in pasture plants, was found in milk and cheese. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rich Quaternary fossil record from the Cantabrian region ( NW Iberia) is virtually restricted to the Late Pleistocene, with Middle Pleistocene findings very rare. This work presents the study of two Middle Pleistocene palaeontological sites in the Cantabrian region: Llantrales quarry and Mestas de Con mine, both discovered and first described in the 1950s but never studied in detail thereafter. The material was here re-analysed and re-evaluated. Taxonomic attributions have been changed in most cases and, consequently, chronological assignments of the fossils have also been changed. This first detailed study of the assemblage from Llantrales quarry revealed the occurrence of the large-sized deer Praemegaceros solilhacus, which has never been reported previously in North Iberia. Cervus cf. elaphus and Stephanorhinus cf. hundsheimensis were also identified. The age of these fossils was originally regarded as Pontian (late Miocene), but new palaeontological results indicate a much younger age, most likely from around 0.8 to 0.5 Ma. A taxonomic re-evaluation of the fossils from Mestas de Con provided different results with respect to the 1950s works. The faunal association is composed of a large-sized deer (probably corresponding to Praemegaceros), Cervus elaphus, Capreolus cf. capreolus, Bison sp. (small sized), Equus sp. (large sized), Stephanorhinus hemitoechus, Ursus sp. and Homotherim latidens. This faunal association was evaluated within a western European context and proves to be highly analogous to other contemporary assemblages there. The chronology was initially regarded as late Villafranchian (in a broader sense). New results, documenting the co-occurrence of Stephanorhinus hemitoechus and Homotherium latidens, indicate a more precise and younger age, most likely between 0.6 and 0.4 Ma. These two fossil assemblages provide new and relevant information on the Middle Pleistocene faunas from a geographical region where this information, compared with other western European areas, is rare and poorly known. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A lack of paleobotanic studies with adequate resolution and multiproxy approaches has limited proper discussion of vegetation dynamics in Cantabria and of the role of fires in the configuration of the plant landscape during the Holocene in the northwest part of the Iberian peninsula. The pollen diagram of La Molina peat bog in Puente Viesgo (43°15′38″ N–3°58′37″ W; ETRS89), located at 484 m.a.s.l., and the study of its sedimentary charcoals allowed the acquisition of a continuous and thorough fire sequence for the last 6700 cal yr BP and an understanding of its relationship to the forest. The results show the importance of human influence on the incidence and characteristics of fire activity during the different phases studied: the Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman period, and Middle Ages. A synergy seems to exist between dry climate periods (especially during Bond events 3 and 4) and a greater presence of biomass. As the Holocene advances, vegetation coverage clearly tends to decrease. This study provides key elements for understanding the role of fire activity in the forest dynamics of deciduous and evergreen Quercus , Corylus , Pinus , Fagus , and Alnus and demonstrates the strongly artificialized character of the present landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Cantabrian Mountains extend along the Atlantic coast of northern Spain and are known to have experienced an Alpine phase of deformation, reactivating well-expressed Variscan structures. They form the westward continuation of the Pyrenean range and were similarly uplifted consequently to the convergence between the Iberian and European plates. Nevertheless, due to the scarcity of syntectonic sediments and structural markers in a large outcrop of Variscan basement, little is known about the precise timing and amount of the Alpine exhumation phase in the Cantabrian Mountains. We present a new low-temperature thermochronology data set, composed of nine apatite fission track (AFT) and six zircon (U-Th)/He (ZHe) ages, sampled along structurally well-constrained N-S profiles through the central part of the Cantabrian Mountains and complemented by 3-D thermokinematic modeling. The occurrence of Eocene-Oligocene AFT and ZHe ages in the center of the profiles allows us to frame the period of Alpine exhumation from 39 to 29 Ma, at a rate of 0.24-0.3 km Myr−1. Moreover, the reset ZHe ages imply significant burial of the samples, by up to 8-10 km in the center of the range. Therefore, the Alpine exhumation phase was significant, and synchronous to the main phase of exhumation in the central Pyrenees, although exhumation rates were an order of magnitude lower. Three-dimensional thermokinematic modeling of the data confirms the timing of uplift of this area, but its resolution is limited by the relatively small number of reset ages over a large area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional Variscan structure in southern Ireland follows a gentle arcuate trend of ca. 25° concave to the SE that apparently follows the geometry of the Cantabrian Orocline (NW Iberia) when Iberia is restored to its position prior to the opening of the Biscay Bay. We report paleomagnetic results from Devonian and Carboniferous rocks in southern Ireland: (i) a pervasive and consistent remagnetization during the Late Carboniferous and (ii) an average rotation of ∼25° counterclockwise with respect to the Global Apparent Polar Wander Path and kinematically compatible with the Cantabrian Orocline. These results support the participation of Laurussia in the formation of the Cantabrian Orocline involving, at least, southern Ireland and the South Portuguese Zone (S Iberia). We conclude that a Greater Cantabrian Orocline extends beyond its current boundaries to include shear zones in the Variscan hinterland and the Rheic Ocean suture, thereby enlarging its size to plate-scale affecting as it does the Laurussia and Gondwana margins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interpretation of seismic data in the margins of the Burgalesa Platform in the Basque-Cantabrian Pyrenees has allowed proposition of a new structural model that combines different modes of deformation during oblique tectonic inversion, conditioned by the distribution of Triassic salts. Deformation was decoupled by the presence of the salt horizon between basement-involved thrusts inverting formerly Triassic and Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous extensional faults and a detached thrust system involving the Upper Triassic to Neogene sedimentary package. Structural units experiencing different styles of deformation are not only stacked vertically above and below the salt, but most importantly, they change from one to the other along-strike across the transversal edges of the Triassic salts. The Burgalesa Platform detached thrust system was confined between the basement-involved structures of the Cantabrian Mountains westward and the NW tip of the Iberian basement-involved structures (San Pedro) southward. This together with the obliquity between the Pyrenean shortening direction and the strike of the previous extensional faults, mostly during the late stages of deformation, determined the strike-slip reactivation of the basement-involved inverted faults and the lateral extrusion of the Burgalesa Platform detached Mesozoic successions above the salt towards the SE to form a prominent thrust salient oblique to the main Pyrenean trend. The proposed model combines thick-skinned with thin-skinned structural styles during oblique tectonic inversion and is consistent with the surface data, including the fracture system, the available subsurface data and the mechanical stratigraphy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Apatite fission track (AFT) central ages from Carboniferous (Stephanian) tonsteins of the Sabero Coalfield, NW Spain, range from 140.8 ± 7.5 to 65.8 ± 8.1 Ma (Cretaceous), with mean c-axis projected track length values ranging from 12.5 to 13.4 μm. Mean random vitrinite reflectance ( R) of these samples ranges from 0.91 to 1.20 %, which can be translated into maximum palaeotemperatures of ca. 130 to 180 °C. All analysed samples experienced substantial post-depositional annealing. The considerably younger AFT ages compared to the depositional ages of the samples and R data indicate the certainty of the occurrence of at least one heating event after the deposition of strata. The unimodal track length distributions, the relatively short mean track length, and the rather low standard deviation (SD) (1.0-1.6 μm) indicate a relatively simple thermal history that could be related to the post-Late Variscan heating event followed by prolonged residence in the apatite partial annealing zone (APAZ). Geological data combined with thermal models of AFT data indicate that Stephanian strata reached the maximum palaeotemperatures in the Permian period, which was therefore the major time of the coalification processes. The Permian magmatic activity was responsible for a high heat flow, which, with the added effect of sedimentary burial, could account for the resetting of the AFT system. It appears that the fault-related hydrothermal activity could have redistributed heat in areas of significant subsidence. Cooling occurred in the Triassic-Cretaceous times after a high heat flow Permian regime. A post-Permian maturation of the Stephanian organic matter is not very likely, since there is no evidence of a high Mesozoic burial that was sufficient to cause a significant increase in the palaeotemperatures. Finally, exhumation and associated erosion rates may possibly have been faster in the Tertiary, causing the present exposure of the studied rocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are currently no dedicated recruitment survey data available in support of the assessment of the abundance and distribution of Northeast Atlantic (NEA) mackerel (Scomber scombrus), one of the most widespread and commercially important fish stocks in the North Atlantic. This is despite the fact that an estimate of recruitment is an important requirement for the provision of advice to fishery managers. The work here addresses this by compiling catch rates of juvenile mackerel from bottom-trawl surveys conducted between October and March during 1998-2012 and applying a log Gaussian Cox (LGC) process geostatistical model incorporating spatio-temporal correlations. A statistically significant correlation between the modelled catch rates in adjacent quarters 4 and 1 (Q4 and Q1 ) demonstrates that bottom-trawl surveys in winter are an appropriate platform for sampling juvenile mackerel, and that the LCG model is successful in extracting a population abundance signal from the data. In this regard, the model performed appreciably better than a more commonly used raising algorithm based on survey swept-area estimates. Therefore, the LCG model was expanded to include data from the entire survey time-series, and a recruitment index was developed for use in the annual ICES stock assessment. We hypothesize that catchability is positively density-dependant and provides supporting evidence from acoustic observations. Various density-dependant transformations of the modelled catch rates were furthermore found to improve the correlation between the derived annual recruitment index and recruitment estimated by back-calculation of adult mackerel data. Square root transformation led to the strongest correlation, so this is recommended for further analysis of mackerel abundance. Finally, we provide maps of spatial distributions, showing that the most important nursery areas are around Ireland, north and west of Scotland, in the northern North Sea north of 59°N and, to some extent, also in the Bay of Biscay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present mtDNA study on human remains of fourteen archaeological sites from Cantabria, Basque Country and Navarra provided a diachronic overview from Paleolithic–Mesolithic to Late Antiquity period of some communities settled in the Cantabrian fringe. Ancient DNA studies in European human remains indicated a genetic discontinuity between the hunter–gatherers and later populations. However, some of the mtDNA lineages found in the Cantabrian fringe in Paleolithic–Mesolithic times persist in present-day populations. The mtDNA variability observed in hunter–gatherers and farmers in Europe denoted a complex pattern for the Neolithic transition, occurring along several different routes into and across Europe. The mtDNA lineages found in the Cantabrian fringe indicated that the dispersion of Neolithic farmers had a different genetic impact in this area with respect to Central and Mediterranean regions of Europe. The differences in mtDNA variability were also apparent after the Neolithic, as shown by the genetic distance between the Chalcolithic populations from the Cantabrian fringe and the Bell Beaker Culture (BBC) populations of Central Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The majority of the eastern Cantabrian estuaries occur on a coast with waves approaching dominantly from a NW direction. However, at their mouths sand-spit accumulations occur on their eastern margin. These sedimentary features have extended westwards, although the main littoral transport path on this coast is dominantly eastwards. The origin, morphology and development of these sand accumulations can be considered unusual, because they do not show the expected sedimentary response. Through a multidisciplinary approach (surface sediment analysis, morphodynamic, oceanographic and meteorological monitoring, and mathematical modelling) developed during the period May 2005–April 2006 in the Oka estuary, it has been possible to establish a genetic, hydrodynamic and morphodynamic sedimentary model for these estuaries. The main factors to determine the origin of these sedimentary features are wave intensity and direction, wave refraction and diffraction processes, spatial orientation and morphology of estuarine mouths, tidal range and the intensity and direction of tidal currents. On this coast, but elsewhere due to the influence of headlands, usually situated in the western margin of the estuarine mouths, wave diffraction and a variation in energy occur along the approaching waves. Consequently, wave set-up is forced in the eastern side of the estuarine mouths. Because of this induced wave pressure gradient an energy-compensation is needed and thus wave induced currents towards southwest originate. The action of the tidal currents is also important. In this paper a cyclical sedimentary transport pattern for the nearshore zone around the mouths of these estuaries is described. This process is taking place under tidal influence that induces wave set-up and breaking processes and reinforces also the sedimentary transport towards the estuarine inlet. The combination of all these hydrodynamic and sedimentary processes has produced these “anomalously-oriented” sedimentary features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marine remains documented at Holocene archaeological sites in Cantabrian Spain are studied by reviewing published information and also by introducing new data from habitation and funerary sites dated between ca. 8500 and 1500 cal BC, i.e. from the Mesolithic to the Bronze Age. During this time, continuity is seen in the use of different marine molluscs as food. These were mainly gathered on rocky substrates in the inter-tidal zone (several limpet species and Phorcus lineatus ) but also on sandy and muddy shores. The shells of some species were additionally used as artifacts. This continuity is equally observed in the exploitation of other marine animals (echinoderms, crustaceans, mammals, birds, and fish) as food, although they are found in smaller amounts than the molluscs. However, according to the information obtained at sites where terrestrial and marine animal were studied together, the diet of these human groups was found to be based on proteins with a terrestrial origin, and sea food was a supplementary resource. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last two decades have witnessed considerable advances in chronometric approaches to cave art, specifically with the application of new dating techniques (AMS 14 C, U-series, Thermoluminescence). In this paper we assess all the currently available chronological information (numerical dates, stylistic comparisons between portable and cave art, the immediate context of art and its relationship with archaeological strata and wider artistic styles) pertaining to cave art of the western Pyrenean and eastern Cantabrian regions, in order to summarize the evolution of art in this important area. The data allow only an imprecise definition of a broad chronological framework for the area of study: at present we cannot define precisely the origins of figurative cave art in the area; the earliest (Pre-Magdalenian) cycle is characterized by basic figures in which, frequently, only the outline is represented. By contrast, in the later (Magdalenian) cycle the figures are naturalistic and realistically composed. The critical analysis of available chronological information is necessary in order for us to advance towards the construction of more solid and less subjective frameworks for the development of art. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of Paleolithic studies in the Cantabrian Region has been historically biased towards cave deposits. This can be explained by a concurrence of factors, as the richness of cave deposits, the heritage regulations, and the interest of researchers. This bias affects the way we interpret the archaeological record in order to understand paleolithic human behaviors, and environments. Nevertheless some advances in the open air research have been done in the last 20 years at Irikaitz, Ametzagaina, Uribe Kosta, El Barandiallu, Cabo Busto and Bañugues. These efforts help us to understand the limits and possibilities of open air paleolithic surveying and excavation in order to understand the non-cave human activities in this concrete region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A range of chemostratigraphic and lithostratigraphic markers of human impacts can be recorded in four estuaries located in the eastern Cantabrian coast (northern Spain). Metal-enriched levels and stable Pb isotopic ratios in dated sediment cores allowed the recognition of an ancient local episode of Pb contamination associated with mining activities during Roman times, as well as the widespread fingerprint of the Industrial Revolution and the “Great Acceleration” of human pressure after the Second World War. Micropalaeontological data (variations in foraminiferal assemblages) provided key information to identify agricultural soils in previously reclaimed and currently regenerated salt marshes, whereas anthropogenic beachrocks offered an example of the incorporation of technofossils to the coastal sedimentary record. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, investigations about siliceous resources exploited during prehistoric times in the Cantabrian Mountain and Western Pyrenees are still scarce and, generally, they did not employ methods which go deeply into the provenance characteristics. A review of the studies of lithic resource exploitation offered by historiography indicates that the theme has been examined in a generalized way in most cases. A model with a clear difference between the Eastern and Western territory of the Cantabrian Coast was created: an area with flint and an area without flint. This model needs to be qualified, because in recent years siliceous outcrops have been discovered in zones of the Western Cantabrian Mountains (Asturias). Information from the investigations in the Cantabrian Mountains, Basque-Cantabrian Basin, and Western Pyrenees indicates diverse patterns. There is a preference for lithic raw material found near the occupations, together with the inclusion of exotic or distant flints, always of good quality, to a greater or lesser extent, according to the chronological periods and the geographical location. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main corridor that has acted as an entrance to the Iberian Peninsula through the Western Pyrenees was as an important communication route in Western Europe during the Paleolithic. This is an area where, despite having documented intense human occupation during different periods of the Upper Paleolithic, the symbolic activity seems incomprehensibly limited compared to other regions, such as the Cantabrian, the Northern Pyrenees, or Dordogne. The reactivation of research during this last decade, when referring to cave art, leads to a very different model than the one that had been previously posed for this region, mainly due to a series of new discoveries, some of which are worth mentioning, such as Askondo and Lumentxa, or others of lower interest such as Astigarraga, Praile Aitz, and Aitzbitarte IV. The re-examination and revision of previously known representations has also contributed to the development of this new model, especially thanks to the research carried out in sites such as Santimamiñe, Altxerri, Isturitz, Oxocelhaya, Sasiziloaga, Sinhikole, or Sainte Colome, as has the revision of the great amount of portable art, mainly from Isturitz, as well as the discovery of new objects from Antoliña, Ekain, Praile Aitz, Aitzbitarte III, Santa Catalina, Arlanpe, and Bourrouilla. Due to these advances, the image that we have of the artistic activity around the epicentre that was the Gulf of Biscay has substantially varied in a way that allows us to carry out a more detailed approximation to a series of relevant questions such as the chronology of the artistic representations, the variability of their contexts, the technical and formal relations among different neighbouring regions, and their relation to the non-symbolic archaeological record. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is an updated review of recent (post-2004) developments in the study of the rich Upper Paleolithic (40–10 uncal. ka) record from the Spanish “wing” of the classic Franco-Cantabrian culture area, composed of the provinces of Asturias, Cantabria, Vizcaya, Guipúzcoa and northern Navarra. Numerous new/ongoing excavations, radiometric dating assays, paleoenvironmental, artifact and faunal analyses are summarized here and their implications for understanding the Middle–Upper Paleolithic transition and the succession of anatomically modern human adaptations in this narrow, mid-latitude strip bounded to the north by the Gulf of Gascony and to the south by the Cantabrian Cordillera. Constants in this record are the balance between regionally distinctive characteristics (in terms of ecology, faunas, artifacts, subsistence and art) and the reality of connections to the Upper Paleolithic cultures of France and the rest of Iberia; the role of the region as a glacial-age refugium; the fundamental continuity of human settlement with movements between the coastal lowlands and the adjacent montane interior; the intensification of subsistence through situational specialization and overall diversification, with periods of intensive demographic and environmental stress; underlying facts of lithology and the differential availability and utilization of flints and non-flint raw materials for different types of tools; the demographically critical role of intra- and extra-regional social networks within the context of valley-defined local band territories. The review proceeds along the lines of traditionally defined cultural traditions: Aurignacian sensu lato , Gravettian, Solultrean, Magdalenian and Azilian, although it is recognized that these are archeological constructs and that there is both considerable variability within each of these concepts and a considerable degree of similarity cross-cutting all of them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Special buildings used as saunas have been found in certain large hillforts in the north of Portugal and in the Cantabrian coastal area of Asturias and Galicia in Spain. The principal aim of this study is to highlight the importance of these buildings in the archaeology and art of the European Iron Age, where they are very rarely mentioned. Two approaches are developed: in Parts 1 and 2, we explain the structure of the buildings, their function, and the current debate surrounding their dating. In Parts 3 and 4, further analyses are developed on their position in the landscape, associating the saunas with the public life of the hillforts, and on the decorative structure of the pedras formosas ('beautiful stones') found in some of them, and their relation to certain artistic trends in so-called Celtic art. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Cantabrian brown bear Ursus arctos population can be seen as a paradigm in conservation biology due to its endangerment status and genetic uniqueness. Therefore, the need to obtain basic demographic data to inform management actions for conservation is imperative. Despite this, empirical data on the size and trends of the Cantabrian bear population are scarce. Here we present the first estimates of population size (Nc) and effective population size (Ne) of the whole Cantabrian brown bear population. We genotyped 270 non-invasive samples collected during 2006 throughout the entire range of the population and subsequently identified 130 individuals. Different model estimators of Nc based on capture-markrecapture (CMR) procedures were compared. The average for the best three models (Mh Chao, Mh Darroch and CAPWIRE TIRM) yielded a total estimate of Nc = 223 individuals (CI95% = 183-278) and Ne 50 (CI95% = 36-75) providing an Ne / Nc ratio of 0.22. Estimates for the two subpopulations commonly recognized in the Cantabrian range were Nc = 203 (CI95% = 168-260) and Ne = 47 (CI95% = 36-70) for the western subpopulation and Nc = 19 (CI95% = 12-40) and Ne= 9 (CI95% = 8-12) for the eastern subpopulation. These data suggest that the Cantabrian brown bear population has increased recently, mainly in the western subpopulation, after a long period of decline and isolation which lead to the split of the population at the beginning of the 20th century. Population sizes in the early 1990s were thought to be only 60 individuals for the western subpopulation and 14 individuals in the eastern one. The efforts to improve conservation policies made since then have probably contributed, to some extent, to the population increase during the last couple of decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A series of charcoal analyses for nine Upper Palaeolithic caves in northern Spain chronologically placed in MIS 2 (19.6–10.3 ka uncal BP) is presented in this paper. Juniperus, Fabaceae and Salix, together with Hippophae and minor occurrences of Betula, Corylus and deciduous Quercus are recorded in some sites dated prior to 13 ka BP. This open vegetation was still dominant between 13 and 11 ka BP, although the sharp increase of Betula and deciduous taxa indicates greater environmental diversity. Pinus, Betula and deciduous Quercus are dominant between 11 and 10 ka BP. However, the manifestation of charcoal data is conditioned by the interaction of several natural and human factors that are the focus of anthracology. This paper discusses the vegetal landscape surrounding Cantabrian archaeological sites in relation with the major vegetation dynamics outlined in MIS 2 high-resolution pollen records from SW Europe, the available woody resources, and the human exploitation of these plant communities throughout the Late Upper Palaeolithic. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The first Furongian trilobites are described herein from the Cambrian of the Cantabrian Zone, NW Spain. They were collected during the construction of the "Túnel Ordovícico del Fabar" from the shales of "El Fabar Beds" in the La Matosa member of the Barrios Formation. The assemblage includes the aphelaspidine genus Maladioidella, with a specimen identified as M. cf. colcheni, a species previously known from Sierra de la Demanda (Spain), and possibly Sardinia and Oman. Fragments of an indeterminate olenid trilobite and phyllocarid crustaceans have also been recorded. Based on the acritarch assemblage, these beds are considered as late Jiangshanian or earliest Stage 10 of the Cambrian System. The ichnofossil Cruziana semiplicata has also been collected in the tunnel from the upper part of the Ligueria Member (Tremadocian) of the Barrios Formation, clearly postdating the occurrence of Maladioidella colcheni, its supposed tracemarker according to some authors. The separate record of both taxa (a Furongian trilobite and a Cambro-Ordovician trace fossil) does not support this statement, so their relationship would be refuted in this case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A new calcareous nannofossil, Crepidolithus cantabriensis nov. sp., is described from the Lower Jurassic marls and marly limestones of the Cantabrian Range (Northern Spain). The new species is characterized by medium-sized, normal to narrowly elliptical coccoliths with open central-areas. In the light microscope, under crossed nicols and in distal view, it displays a characteristic bicyclic extinction pattern. Its inner rim edge shows maximum birefringence colours, which vary from white to yellow, whereas the faintly outer rim margin exhibits low birefringence, tending to grey, and they are separated by a dark and sigmoidal isogyre. C. cantabriensis nov. sp. seems closely related to Crepidolithus crassus on the basis of shared morphological characters. Both of them have a distal shield composed of around thirty sub-vertical, dextrally imbricating laths. The central-area width of C. cantabriensis nov. sp. is approximately half of the coccolith width, whilst it is reduced to one or two tiny lenticular slits in C. crassus. Nevertheless, the phyletic relationships between C. cantabriensis nov. sp. and Crepidolithus cavus are not clear, since they show different rim structures, and C. cavus has a delicate bar aligned along the minor axis of its central area. The first specimens of C. cantabriensis nov. sp. have been recognized within the Raricostatum AZ in the Tudanca section. This species seems to be more abundant in the Reinosa area, which occupied a more distal position with respect to the Iberian Massif during the studied time interval. It is hypothesized here that C. cantabriensis nov. sp. could have inhabited the lower-photic zone. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The Cantabrian Zone of NW Iberia preserves a voluminous, almost continuous, sedimentary sequence that ranges in age from Ediacaran to Early Permian. Its tectonic setting is controversial and recent hypotheses include (i) passive margin deposition along the northern margin of Gondwana, (ii) an active continental margin, or (iii) the margin of a drifting ribbon continent and (iv) a combination of the three aforementioned possibilities. In this paper we present geochemical data from 21 samples taken in detrital rocks in the Cantabrian Zone from Ediacaran to Early Permian age. The results, together with previously published detrital zircon ages from these strata, allow a comprehensive analysis of changing tectonic scenarios and provenance through time. Collectively, these data indicate that this portion of Iberia was an active margin during the Ediacaran that evolved to become part of the passive margin of Gondwana at least from Ordovician to Late Devonian times. Changes in geochemistry, zircon age distribution and Sm/Nd isotopes during the Carboniferous are attributed to the far-field effects of the onset of the collision between Gondwana and Laurussia, and related processes such as recycling of older sedimentary sequences, as well as the involvement of the rocks formed during the Variscan orogeny and oroclinal buckling. Latest Carboniferous and Permian show a more juvenile Sm/Nd and higher values of illite cristallinity that may support the hypothesis of lithospheric foundering after oroclinal buckling. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Late Albian deep-water sediments of the Black Flysch Group in the Basque-Cantabrian Basin (western Pyrenees) preserve a fossil pockmark field including methane seep carbonates and associated macrofauna. The geometry of the pockmarks is reconstructed from repeated lens-shaped turbidite deposits with centrally located carbonate bodies. Early diagenetic carbonate phases such as clotted micrite and yellow calcite with δ13C values as low as −41.6‰, and hydrocarbon biomarkers (e.g. 2,6,10,15,19-pentamethylicosane) with strong depletions in 13C indicate that the carbonates precipitated due to anaerobic oxidation of methane. The pockmarks probably formed due to subsidence induced by dewatering and degassing of the gas-charged seabed perhaps enhanced by the weight of the carbonate bodies. The macrofauna resembles that of other late Mesozoic deep-water methane-seeps world-wide, and is dominated by large lucinid and Caspiconcha bivalves, and hokkaidoconchid gastropods. During late diagenesis the carbonate δ18O values were reset to a narrow range of −12 to −10‰, the remaining pore spaces and fissures were filled with pyrobitumen, and additional carbonate phases precipitated, potentially due to thermochemical sulfate reduction processes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Copyright of Basic & Applied Ecology is the property of Urban & Fischer Verlag and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The Magdalenian culture-stratigraphic unit in Western Europe, despite being a construct of nineteenth-century prehistoric archeologists, does have reality as a continuous network of human inter-relationships, whose ecologically transcendent range expanded through the course of the Late Last Glacial, in many ways reminiscent of Braudel's histoire de la longue durée-in this case lasting some 9,000 calendar years. At the scale of the moyenne durée, the Magdalenian underwent several reorganizations [represented by its Initial, Lower, Middle, Upper, Final, and Epi-Magdalenian (i.e., Azilian, Federmesser) stages]-with distinctly regional manifestations and inter-regional connections-that in part can be understood in light of environmental/resource changes and variations at the scales of millennia and natural regions. At the scale of the courte durée, we are dealing with the adaptations of local and regional hunter-gatherer bands and the peculiarities and vicissitudes of their circumstances measured by forager group territories and centuries. Numerous, diverse concrete archaeological manifestations of territories and inter-group contacts support the growing consensus about the social reality of the Magdalenian phenomenon and the changes and variations that characterized it within a range that ultimately stretched from Portugal to Poland during the last millennia of the Pleistocene. Here, the focus is on Cantabrian Spain as one of the core or source areas of the Magdalenian cultural tradition that arose out of the Solutrean experience some 20,000 calendar years ago (about a millennium later than in France) and that was intimately linked to the process of human recolonization of upland and northerly regions of western and ultimately central Europe during the course of Greenland Stadial 2 and early Greenland Interstadial 1. Finally, archaeological and paleobiological indicators clearly point to major breaks in human adaptations and ways of understanding the human place in the universe a few centuries after the onset of Holocene conditions in Vasco-Cantabria, i.e., the development of Mesolithic cultures about 11,000 calendar years ago. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We conducted a high-spatial resolution, monthly sampling survey from July 07 to September 08 at a coastal site in Cudillero, Central Cantabrian Coast, to describe the seasonality and cross shore trends in abundance of meroplanktonic larvae. Larval seasonality was driven by the most common meroplanktonic taxa during the stratification period, the barnacle Verruca stroemia and the veligers of the bivalve Hiatella sp. and littorinids. Across the shelf, distributions differed between species and stages. At least for V. stroemia cyprids, the abundance trends correlate negatively with Ekman transport, suggesting advection to the flow below the thermocline. These relationships were only significant when integrated over periods of several weeks, suggesting that transport effects accumulate during the larval duration. For other abundant taxa, the lack of fit to wind induced currents and the high larval concentrations in very coastal waters may reflect retention mediated by active swimming behaviour throughout the water column. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Experimental results of X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy of fossil cutin from the compressed foliage of the Carboniferous tree fern Alethopteris pseudograndinioides, Cantabrian age, Sydney Coalfield, Canada, are presented in this paper. The light-colored cutin was obtained by oxidizing the compression in Schulze''s solution in two stages for a total of 19days. The broad peak in the powder diffractogram at 20° is characteristic of an average separation of ~4.4Å between the methylenic hydrocarbon chains (CH2)n, whereas the sharper peaks at 26°–28° suggest that within a small fraction of the sample, the chains are more regularly separated. Most of the chains are likely randomly aligned to form a nematic structure. Elemental composition by mass amounts to 58.3% C, 1.1% N, 19.4% O, 19.7% Cl, and 1.5% Si, and the local chemical environment of C 1s, O 1s, and Cl 2p is probed. Cl content is a surprising result, and further research is needed for identifying chlorine-containing species. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The Cantabrian brown bear survives as a small remnant population in northern Spain and semen cryopreservation for future artificial insemination is one of the measures being implemented for conservation of this species. As part of this program we investigated the value of adding heat shock protein A8 (HSPA8) to media (N-[Tris(hydroxymethyl)methyl]-2-aminoethanesulfonic acid-TRIS-fructose with 20% egg yolk) used for chilling and cryopreserving the spermatozoa. Semen samples from eight brown bears were obtained by electroejaculation during the breeding season. In experiment 1, we tested three concentrations of HSPA8 (0.5, 1, and 5 μg/mL) to determine whether sperm motility (computer assisted sperm analysis system) and sperm survival could be improved during refrigeration (5 °C) up to 48 hours. Results showed that sperm viability (test with propidium iodide) was improved by the addition of 0.5 and 5 μg/mL HSPA8. In experiment 2, HSPA8 was added to the cryopreservation media (6% final glycerol concentration) before the freezing process. Though there were no differences in sperm viability immediately after thawing (analyses to 0 hours), plasma membrane permeability (test with YO-PRO-1) was significantly lower by the presence of HSPA8 (1 μg/mL) and acrosomal damage (test with peanut agglutinin-fluorescein isothiocyanate conjugate) was reduced by higher concentrations of HSPA8 (1 and 5 μg/mL) (analyses after thermal stress test incubating over 2 hours to 37 °C). In experiment 3, results of a simple progression test carried out through artificial mucus (hyaluronic acid 4 mg/mL) showed a significant decrease in the total number of sperm able to swim a distance of 0.5 to 2 cm through a capillary tube for all HSPA8-based extenders. Nevertheless, the distance traveled by the vanguard spermatozoa, which represent a highly motile subpopulation, was restored by the inclusion of 1 and 5 μg/mL HSPA8 in the cryopreservation media. Thus, the HSPA8 addition to extender improves the quality of brown bear (Ursus arctos) sperm during chilling (viability) and after cryopreservation (number of sperm with damaged acrosomes and “apoptotic-like” changes). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A series of analogue experiments was used to explore how lateral variations in lithosphere rheology may result in a subduction polarity reversal. Lithosphere models made of sand and silicone putty were designed to represent a plate convergence setting varying laterally from continent–continent to ocean–continent. Several experiments were performed to test the effects of strength profile variations in the converging plates. The modelling outcomes categorized into models that develop with and without a subduction polarity reversal. While a subduction polarity reversal was the most prevalent experiment outcome, the results suggest that upper mantle strength is the dominant factor in determining whether a subduction polarity shift occurs, or not. A weak upper mantle layer promotes obduction of the oceanic lithosphere in the western segment of the model. In model iterations where the upper mantle of the continental lithosphere was stronger than the oceanic lithosphere, a reversal in subduction polarity from north-dipping in the east, to south-dipping in the west occurred. The experiment design was inspired by the Iberian–Eurasian plate convergence and may provide a simple regional-scale explanation for the deformation patterns along the Pyrenean and Cantabrian orogen. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Copyright of Studia Historica. Historia Antigua is the property of Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract: In the south-western portion of the Cenozoic Basque–Cantabrian Belt, structural data collected in pre-orogenic Upper Cretaceous limestones were combined with aerial images interpretation in flat-lying areas. Observations about fracture strike, type, orientation and overprinting relationships, both at the macro and mesoscales, allow to constrain the pre-thrusting and pre-folding deformational sequence that affected the area when it was forming part of the foreland basin. WNW–ESE striking extensional structures represent the oldest elements, developed during the very late stages of the Mesozoic rifting associated with the opening of the Bay of Biscay. The onset of convergence is marked by the development of extensional structures striking roughly NNW–SSE and WSW–ENE, which are associated with belt-parallel stretching in the foredeep and outer-arc extension in the peripheral bulge, respectively, and developed in a non fluid assisted environment. These elements are postdated by a pre-folding layer-parallel shortening pattern, which includes WSW–ENE striking pressure solution cleavages and reverse faults (both of them frequently reactivating inherited early-orogenic WSW–ENE striking extensional elements), and right-lateral reactivation of WNW–ESE striking pre-orogenic extensional structures. This stage was followed by a syn- to post-folding E–W oriented belt-parallel compression, WNW–ESE striking left-lateral faults being the most outstanding elements associated with this stage. The presence of such elements in Upper Cretaceous sediments, provides support to the idea that left-lateral shear zones of the area related with a Cenozoic intrabelt lateral extrusion tectonics. Our results indicate, coherently with previously published works in the Pyrenean Orogen, that most of the mesoscale deformation has been acquired before layer''s tilting. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]