Slope deposits in the Upper Nalَn River Basin (NW Spain): an approach to a quantitative comparison

The Upper Nalَn River Basin (Cantabrian Mountains, NW Spain) exhibits a variety of slope processes and deposits including landslides, rockfall and soil creep. Geomorphic maps were used to quantitatively ascertain the relationships between these deposits and topographic characteristics of exposure, gradient and altitude at the nodes of a square grid with 250-m spacing (N=926). A correspondence analysis allows the analysis of qualitative variables (lithology and origin of deposit), and quantitative variables (altitude, with a class interval of 200 m, and gradient, in 10° classes). The results suggest that lithology is the main conditioning factor of the differences and similarities between deposits.