From Geography to Global Geomorphology in Aragon

SPECIAL ISSUE ON GEOMORPHOLOGY

Abstract

The evolution of geomorphology in Aragon is presented from the initial studies promoted by foreign scientists. In the sixties of the 20th century Salvador Mensua was able to create from the Department of Geography of the University of Zaragoza a school of geomorphology that still has great relevance through his studies on the relief of semi-arid landscapes, the evolution of structural forms and the development of geomorphological mapping procedures that have had a great influence on Spanish geomorphology. This was largely due to the work of his two main disciples (María Jesús Ibáñez and José Luis Peña Monné) since the 1970s and the subsequent group that was formed since the 1980s. The creation of the chair of Geomorphology in the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Zaragoza, in charge of Mateo Gutiérrez Elorza contributed to the confirmation of a school of growing national and international influence, consolidated with the works of Carlos Sancho Marcén and Francisco Gutiérrez Santolalla. Finally, the emergence of geomorphological studies at the Pyrenean Institute of Ecology (CSIC) and its interactions with the two previous groups confirms the great development and impact of geomorphology from university and research centers in Aragon.