Elena De Uña-Álvarez

Elena De Uña-Álvarez
University of Vigo | UVIGO · Department of History, Art and Geography

PhD in Geography

About

230
Publications
25,531
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Introduction
Geographer, Professor of Geography at the Department of History, Art and Geography (Campus of Ourense, University of Vigo). My research concerns with: geomorphic processes and landforms; geoheritage and protected areas including rural territories and tourism trends; teaching and learning Geography (Higher Education). Much of my work is developing at the Research Group GEAAT (University of Vigo) and the Innovation Group GIDEP (University of Vigo).

Publications

Publications (230)
Article
Full-text available
El proyecto “Rei Cintolo: Objetivo 11.000 m”, iniciado en 2018, promueve y planea una re-exploración completa de la Cova do Rei Cintolo, la mayor cavidad kárstica de Galicia. Este proyecto incluye la elaboración de su modelo topográfico digital y la realización de un inventario completo de sus recursos naturales y culturales. En el año 2022, como p...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Los ríos que fluyen sobre lechos rocosos, caracterizados por la exposición o recubrimiento de la roca por una delgada capa de sedimentos, ofrecen un escenario poco explorado para el estudio de las interacciones naturaleza-sociedad a través de la composición de los sedimentos. En este contexto, se llevó a cabo un estudio en un tramo del río Miño a s...
Article
Full-text available
Sediment compositions and enrichment patterns are investigated in an urban reach of a bedrock river, the Miño River passing through Ourense City, Spain. This study focuses on the trace element distribution in different fractions to gain insights into trace element enrichment. To assess enrichment, a context-specific approach was employed, based on...
Chapter
In Spain, inland tourism is growing in importance supported by heritage, landscape and culture. Inland tourism was key to overcoming the 2008 crisis and is being particularly so in the post-COVID stage. Hence, in the academy it is a central theme to highlight the value of this product and the need to influence quality to continue attracting a selec...
Article
Full-text available
Bedrock rivers, whose sedimentary geochemistry has been scarcely investigated, are suitable to test geochemical approaches in order to assess the existence and extent of human alterations in the natural abundance of rare earth elements. This work presents the study of REE contents in fine-grained sediments of the (bedrock) Miño River, in an urban r...
Chapter
Full-text available
Inland territories hold a great diversity of ecocultural resources, increasingly constituted in tourist products for local development. Their role in improving the socioeconomic conditions and wellness of local communities, as well as in promoting tourism and sustainability, depends on the involvement of public and private actors. The relationships...
Article
Full-text available
The existence of forms sculpted by fluvial erosion is frequent in Bedrock Rivers. Since 1999, the Area of Physical Geography of the University of Vigo (Ourense Campus) has been conducting research on these rock cavities in various reaches of the middle Miño River. The exploratory study that is presented corresponds to the case of a section upstream...
Article
Full-text available
The Miño River is a good example of bedrock rivers, where sediment geochemistry is scarcely studied. Its urban reach when passing through the city of Ourense gathers some characteristics that provide interest to its sediments, like scarcity of fine sediments accumulation and the impact of several human activities. Sediments trapped by potholes and...
Article
Full-text available
El espectro audible del agua configura marcas representativas de diversos ambientes, que definen un patrimonio sonoro con valor científico, cultural, emocional, sensorial y educativo. Desde esta perspectiva, los ambientes fluviales comprenden un amplio espectro de resonancias sonoras. El presente estudio, contextualizado en el ámbito de la investig...
Chapter
Full-text available
Dende hai máis de unha década, estase a desenvolver no eido da investigación unha relevante liña de traballo sobre o encontro de grandes tradicións de arte rupestre prehistórico no noroeste peninsular, que se viu reforzada nos últimos anos polo achado de sitios con pintura rupestre nas áreas surorientais de Galicia. A identificación de dous sitios...
Presentation
Contorno virtual das Pinturas Rupestres Prehistóricas da Comarca de Monterrei (Ourense)/ Virtual visit to the sites with schematic art paintings in the region of Monterrei (Ourense)
Article
Full-text available
The capacity of fluvial potholes to trap sediments, together with the geochemical analysis of their stored sediments for environmental assessment, is an overlooked research topic in small bedrock rivers. The present exploratory study is focused on this issue. It was developed in a small river over rock, in the inland territory of Galicia (NW Iberia...
Article
Full-text available
A gravity core (220 cm depth) was collected to investigate the geochemistry, enrichment, and pollution of trace metals in anoxic sediments from San Simon Bay, an ecosystem of high biological productivity in the northwest of Spain. A five-step sequential extraction procedure was used. The Cu, Pb, and Zn contents decreased with depth, with maximum va...
Article
This work addresses the study of a sediment core retrieved in the estuary of the Grande-de-Xubia River (Ria of Ferrol), which is among the first industrialized areas in the Iberian Peninsula and has links to the shipbuilding industry since 1750. The chemical analysis of trace elements (i.e. As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Hg, Mo, Ni, Pb, V, and Zn) was coupled...
Chapter
Full-text available
Entre los retos planteados para la enseñanza-aprendizaje en la Educación Superior destaca la necesaria innovación de contenidos y métodos, conectados con problemas que afectan a la sociedad. El objetivo de esta contribución es analizar el interés de una propuesta para promover la alfabetización científica, la adquisición de competencias y la concie...
Article
Full-text available
El papel de las sinergias entre cultura del vino, identidad territorial y turismo puede ser crucial para el desarrollo rural. El enfoque de la investigación considera la percepción y experiencia de los actores locales sobre esta cuestión, en el territorio de la Denominación de Origen Ribeira Sacra (Noroeste de España). La metodología está basada en...
Article
Full-text available
Los elementos químicos de las tierras raras (REE) se suelen utilizar como trazadores de sedimentos en sistemas costeros. El curso del río Louro está parcialmente situado dentro de la cuenca de drenaje del monte Galiñeiro, que es rico en minerales con REE. Se plantea la hipótesis de que los REE pueden estar presentes en el sedimento del río Louro y...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
In 1972, The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment acknowledge that humankind has reached a development stage with the capacity to transform the environment 'in countless ways and on an unprecedented scale'. These 'countless ways' are characterized mainly by numerous local events combined in a global impact, particularly after the mid-...
Article
Full-text available
Abstract: This paper presents a geoecological evaluation of Loznica for the purposes of sports and recreational tourism, based on the quantitative method of diversity. By using this method, we were able to assess the criteria of natural components (relief, forests, water surfaces and climate) of the analyzed area with the help of GIS. In the propos...
Article
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Landform assemblages may be used to define sites of geomorphological interest which are resources for rural sustainability. This paper focuses on the valuation and significance of such sites in the context of one European internal border region, illustrated using a case study from the inland mountains of the Spanish-Portuguese border: the Serra do...
Article
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Tourism potential is greatly related to destinations’ reorganization and innovation abilities. Throughout the last fifteen years, tourism evolution at the western section of the Sil Canyon (NW Spain) has reflected the transformations facing times of crisis. By assuming tourism as a complex adaptive system, the aims of this research about an inland...
Article
The Anthropocene has been proposed as a new geo-stratigraphic epoch where humans have become a global factor affecting the ecosystems. Estuarine sediments constitute a biogeochemical reservoir where trace elements (TEs) from natural sources mix with a fraction generated by human activities. This study assessed the natural lithogenic imprint of TEs...
Article
The Miño is the most important river in the NW Iberian Peninsula. When it flows through Ourense town (Spain), the attractiveness of the thermal springs hides the importance of the fluvial potholes developed over bedrock. These forms reflect the strength of erosion processes, linked to fluvial incision over time. Potholes have an environmental, dida...
Article
Full-text available
Larouco is an inland cross-border territory located between the South of Galicia (Spain) and the North of Portugal. In Galicia represent a rural space to revitalize that is characterized by the demographic crisis and the decay of the agrarian activity. The knowledge of the perception and opinion of their key actors regarding the territory values an...
Article
Full-text available
En la mayoría de los espacios rurales de montaña la oferta turístico-recreativa está basada en sus recursos naturales. El conocimiento de la percepción y las expectativas de los actores locales respecto a su valor y potencialidad es indispensable para fomentar un turismo sostenible. La Sierra del Larouco es un espacio transfronterizo que se extiend...
Book
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The granite caves of Partovia (Ourense, Spain) are studied, in the two types existing in the area: blocks caves and tafone. Age of formation, genesis and morphological characteristics are analyzed. The relationship between his exposure and the performance of Alpine Orogeny in Galicia is analyzed. Archaeological data associated with them are studied...
Article
Full-text available
A total of 216 sculpted forms were registered on the granitic bedrock of the Miño River, northwest Iberian Peninsula. Analysis of in situ measurements (length, width and depth) revealed three general type-sets: incipient forms, longitudinal furrows and circular potholes. Maximum depth and upper radius (at the incision surface) were identified as ke...
Article
Trace element contributions from small rivers to estuaries is an issue barely addressed in the literature. In this work, freshwater flowing into the Ria of Cedeira (NW Iberian Peninsula) was studied during a hydrological year through the input from three rivers, one considered uncontaminated (the Das-Mestas River), a second affected by urban treate...
Article
Full-text available
La incorporación de la universidad española al Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior plantea la necesidad de adoptar estrategias con un nuevo enfoque de la enseñanza-aprendizaje. En este contexto, la educación patrimonial presenta un elevado potencial para el conocimiento y la interpretación de las interacciones naturaleza-sociedad. El reconocimien...
Poster
Full-text available
Ribeira Sacra (RS) destaca por su posición consolidada como destino y la oferta en clave de identidad territorial. El caso de RS es representativo de las tendencias del turismo en un territorio de interior. En estos territorios, la necesidad de llegar a ser destinos multifuncionales, impulsada por la dimensión global, está relacionada con las etiqu...
Conference Paper
Biogeochemical processes in the land-sea boundary are mainly driven by the continental and marine inputs of nutrients. Fluvial loads can be affected by anthropogenic activities, which may disturb the natural processes in estuaries. The natural and anthropogenic allochthonous sources of nutrients and organic matter to a small ria system has been qua...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Las geoformas son elementos sustantivos del patrimonio natural y cultural. Su identificación, caracterización, catalogación, y puesta en valor debe realizarse en el marco de los procesos geomorfológicos dominantes. Nuestro objetivo es presentar los referentes conceptuales y metodológicos a tener en cuenta en las primeras fases de una investigación...
Chapter
Full-text available
La morfología de los cauces rocosos refleja la dinámica de la incisión fluvial, relacionada con cambios en diversas escalas espacio-temporales. En el tramo medio del río Miño (Ribeira de Canedo), los procesos erosivos, sobre materiales graníticos, han generado marmitas y surcos en el margen del cauce. La diversidad morfológica está relacionada con...
Chapter
Full-text available
Las formas graníticas son componentes del paisaje con valores científicos, estéticos, culturales y educativos. Las iniciativas de uso público en los lugares de interés geomorfológico que conforman están relacionadas con intervenciones destinadas a su puesta en valor. El análisis de varios casos en la provincia de Ourense (Galicia meridional) muestr...
Chapter
Full-text available
La recuperación, la construcción y la promoción de la identidad del territorio es un proceso fundamental en las estrategias articuladas para su sostenibilidad hacia el futuro. La identidad territorial está conectada con las imágenes, las representaciones que integran las claves de su identificación y sus valores significativos. Desde esta perspecti...
Poster
Full-text available
Las formas de erosión fluvial poseen un carácter de patrimonio natural y cultural. Nuestro objetivo es presentar los referentes conceptuales y metodológicos a tener en cuenta en las primeras fases de una investigación sobre patrimonio geomorfológico en cauces rocosos. El enfoque responde al interés del tema en el contexto del Campus del Agua (Unive...
Presentation
Full-text available
Las formas graníticas son componentes del paisaje con valores científicos, estéticos, culturales y educativos. El análisis de varios casos en la provincia de Ourense (Galicia meridional) muestra las condiciones y las modalidades de actuación que inciden en su estado actual.
Poster
Full-text available
La recuperación, la construcción y la promoción de la identidad del territorio es un proceso fundamental en las estrategias articuladas para su sostenibilidad hacia el futuro. La identidad territorial está conectada con las imágenes, las representaciones que integran las claves de su identificación y sus valores significativos. Desde esta perspecti...
Presentation
Full-text available
La morfología de los cauces rocosos refleja la dinámica de la incisión fluvial, relacionada con cambios en diversas escalas espacio-temporales. En el tramo medio del río Miño (Ribeira de Canedo), los procesos erosivos, sobre materiales graníticos, han generado marmitas y surcos en el margen del cauce. Primeros resultados del análisis de 75 formas e...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Since the first scientific mention of the form tafone (though not giving this name) in the Guadarrama Sierra (Spain) in 1864, its origin has been considered to be due to exogenous processes. In 1883, the present Corsican term (tafone) is started to be used, and in 1888 the first drawing of the honeycomb structure of a tafone from Orense (Spain) is...