Landslides as a determining geomorphologicic factor of the Barranco de Tirajana basin, Gran Canaria

Abstract

The Barranco de Tirajana (BdT) basin is a 35 km2 depression located in the central-southern part of Gran Canaria, a volcanic island. The important role of mass movements in shaping the BdT basin has been studied during the last decade. The basin's origin has been under discussion since the last century but its erosive genesis is now widely accepted. Both its origin and morphological evolution were directly related to erosive periods during the Quaternary. These produced backward erosion in the ravine and, as a result, a huge number of landslides occurred in the upper basin. From the Middle Pleistocene to the Holocene, the basin was enlarged and the material from the landslides was transported through a narrow valley and deposited as an extensive alluvial delta fan on the coast.