A geomorphological design for the rehabilitation of an abandoned sand quarry in central Spain

Abstract

The article describes, how a geomorphological design based on the original relief architecture (prior to exploitation), can contribute to the ecological and landscape reclamation of an environment affected by a silica sand quarry located in the central area of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain). The reclamation procedure based on this design gives considerable importance to integral geomorphological criteria (morphographic, morphodynamic and morphoevolutionary); this approach is designed to complete the methodologies applied in landscape restorations, by incorporating aspects of morphogenetic dynamics in addition to the already habitual aspects based on geometrical criteria. This proposal also gives rise to a discussion regarding the philosophy underlying environmental and landscape restorations, which often attach too much importance to revegetation processes or to strictly aesthetic considerations without taking into account the long-term evolution of natural systems, which is chiefly regulated by geomorphoedaphic processes.