Articles | Volume 74, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-74-281-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Special issue:
https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-74-281-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
19 Nov 2025
Research article |
| 19 Nov 2025
| 19 Nov 2025
Transport of heavy minerals and heavy anthropogenic particles in the Rio Sella catchment and along the adjacent coast, northern Spain
Andreas Gärtner
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Sektion Mineralogie/Isotope Forensics, Museum für Mineralogie und Geologie, Senckenberg Naturhistorische Sammlungen Dresden, Königsbrücker Landstraße 159, 01109 Dresden, Germany
Lehrstuhl für Physische Geographie, Institut für Geographie, Technische Universität Dresden, Helmholtzstraße 10, 01069 Dresden, Germany
Anja Sagawe
Sektion Paläozoologie, Museum für Mineralogie und Geologie, Senckenberg Naturhistorische Sammlungen Dresden, Königsbrücker Landstraße 159, 01109 Dresden, Germany
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In northwest Iberia, a low-grade unit separates the unrooted accretionary prism from the autochthon. It was divided into Upper (preorogenic) and Lower (synorogenic) parautochthons around the Morais Complex. A review of the sedimentary sequence characteristics, supported by U–Pb ages in 17 new samples of synorogenic sediments and volcanic olistoliths, proposes this model to show the Galicia–Trás-os-Montes Zone forming a tectonic carpet exposed in most of the Parautochthon–Autochthon limit.
Emilio González Clavijo, Ícaro Dias da Silva, José R. Martínez Catalán, Juan Gómez Barreiro, Gabriel Gutiérrez-Alonso, Alejandro Díez Montes, Mandy Hofmann, Andreas Gärtner, and Ulf Linnemann
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In northwest Iberia, a low-grade unit separates the unrooted accretionary prism from the autochthon. It was divided into Upper (preorogenic) and Lower (synorogenic) parautochthons around the Morais Complex. A review of the sedimentary sequence characteristics, supported by U–Pb ages in 17 new samples of synorogenic sediments and volcanic olistoliths, proposes this model to show the Galicia–Trás-os-Montes Zone forming a tectonic carpet exposed in most of the Parautochthon–Autochthon limit.
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Short summary
Data from a geologically diverse river catchment in Spain show that certain types of rock provide minerals that are commonly used in the field of geoscience. Other lithologies present in the area do not contribute to the signal. This bias must be accounted for in all studies attempting to provide hinterland information by sampling river sediments. Then, a surprisingly high number of heavy particles of anthropogenic origin were found. These are not yet well represented in environmental studies.
Data from a geologically diverse river catchment in Spain show that certain types of rock...
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