LATE QUATERNARY CLIMATE CHANGES AND MASS MOVEMENT FREQUENCY AND MAGNITUDE IN THE CANTABRIAN REGION, SPAIN

A reconstruction of Holocene climate changes in the Cantabrian region, based on pollen records and on complementary sedimentological, geomor phological, archaeological and oxygen isotope data is presented. The c limate model thus proposed has been tested obtaining new sediment reco rds and dating sixteen additional samples. The distribution and relati ve chronology of slope movements in a study area are presented. Eleven new dates have been obtained for landslide and flow deposits and a co rrelation between occurrence of mass movements and climate changes is proposed. The volumes affected by these movements in different periods have been calculated and rates have been obtained. Estimates of denud ation rates in the study area during the Quaternary and in the Holocen e are also presented and compared with the former.