Hostname: page-component-89b8bd64d-72crv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-09T12:36:41.442Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Aeolian influx and related environmental conditions on Gran Canaria during the early Pleistocene

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 August 2018

Inmaculada Menéndez*
Affiliation:
Instituto de Oceanografía y Cambio Global, IOCAG, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Campus Tafira, 35017 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
José Mangas
Affiliation:
Instituto de Oceanografía y Cambio Global, IOCAG, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Campus Tafira, 35017 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
Esperança Tauler
Affiliation:
Departamento de Mineralogia, Petrología y Geología Aplicada, Universitat de Barcelona, Martí i Franqués, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
Vidal Barrón
Affiliation:
Departamento de Agronomía, Universidad de Córdoba, Campus de Rabanales, 14071 Córdoba, Spain
José Torrent
Affiliation:
Departamento de Agronomía, Universidad de Córdoba, Campus de Rabanales, 14071 Córdoba, Spain
Juan F. Betancort
Affiliation:
Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), Juan del Rosal, 14, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Ángelo Santana
Affiliation:
Departamento de Matemáticas, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Campus de Rabanales, 14071 Córdoba, Spain
José Manuel Recio
Affiliation:
Departamento de Ecología (Geografía Física), Universidad de Córdoba, Campus de Rabanales, 14071 Córdoba, Spain
Luis A. Quevedo-González
Affiliation:
Instituto de Oceanografía y Cambio Global, IOCAG, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Campus Tafira, 35017 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
Ignacio Alonso
Affiliation:
Instituto de Oceanografía y Cambio Global, IOCAG, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Campus Tafira, 35017 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
Jorge Méndez-Ramos
Affiliation:
Departamento de Física, Universidad de La Laguna, Campus San Cristobal de la Laguna, 38200 Tenerife, Spain
*
*Corresponding author at: Instituto de Oceanografía y Cambio Global, IOCAG, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Campus Tafira, 35017 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain. E-mail address: inmaculada.menendez@ulpgc.es (I. Menéndez).

Abstract

The island of Gran Canaria is regularly affected by dust falls due to its proximity to the Saharan desert. Climatic oscillations may affect the Saharan dust input to the island. Geochemical, mineralogical, and textural analysis was performed on a well-developed and representative early Pleistocene paleosol to examine Saharan dust contribution to Gran Canaria. Significant and variable Saharan dust content was identified in addition to weathering products such as iron oxides and clay minerals. Variations in quartz and iron oxide concentrations in the paleosol likely reflect different Saharan dust input in more/less-contrasted rhexistasic/biostatic climatic conditions. Linking the quartz content in Canarian soils, the Ingenio paleosol, and two Canarian loess-like deposits to different ages from the Quaternary, we hypothesized that the dust input should be lower (about 33–38%) throughout the early to middle Pleistocene than during the late Quaternary. The Saharan dust input to the Gran Canaria profile in the Pleistocene persisted in spite of climatic variations.

Information

Type
Thematic Set: Drylands
Copyright
Copyright © University of Washington. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable