The upper Pleistocene on the northern face of the Guadarrama Mountains (central Spain): Palaeoclimatic phases and glacial activity

The present paper provides new information on Pleistocene glacial activity in a mountainous area of the Iberian Central System. A sediment analysis associated with Pleistocene modelling was carried out using: (1) granulometric and morphometric procedures, (2) quartz grain microtexture techniques (SEM) to discriminate between glacial and no glacial origins of sediments, (3) clay X-ray diffraction study to determine intra-Pleistocene climate variability, and (4) optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) absolute dating. The results show that the sediments were formed in two different phases associated with glacial dynamics, one of them was 35-30 ky BP and another was 25-20 ky BP, separated by a short intermediate warm-wet period. Identification of glacial phenomena is new for the northern slopes of the Guadarrama Mountains (facing the north Meseta, Duero basin), although they are not unusual within the general context of the Iberian Central System. From the data provided, we deduce that glaciation in these mountains was much more intense and widespread than had previously been thought because, on the northern slopes, glaciers occupied large areas reaching the base of the mountains. The evidence favours new interpretations of Pleistocene morphology in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula and, by extension, on the southwestern edge of Europe; it also highlights the sensitivity of mountainous areas with regard to Quaternary climate changes.