The Têt River Valley: A Condensed Record of Long-Term Landscape Evolution in the Pyrenees

Abstract

While coinciding with a unique biogeographical hotspot where the Mediterranean and Atlantic biomes meet in the Eastern Pyrenees, the Têt river catchment displays a spectacular suite of tectonic, glacial, periglacial, fluvial and hillslope processes. Prominent fragments of smooth, pre-Quaternary Paleic relief survive where glacial erosion has not serrated the interfluves, and well-preserved exposures of both continental and marine basin fill sequences provide a compelling record of post-orogenic landscape evolution and base-level changes since the Early Neogene. The heritage value of the physical landscape is enriched by a palimpsest of agrarian, pastoral, industrial and cultural vestiges from the Neolithic to recent history.