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Till macrofabric and grain-size analysis of glacial diamictons and landforms present in several valleys of the Serra da Estrela Mountains in central Portugal were used to interpret till types and to reconstruct the glacial paleoprocess history of this mountainous region. Supraglacial melt-out and flow tills are dominant in this range. Supraglacial melt-out tills, representative of periods of glacial stability and stagnation followed by recession, present weaker fabric data and coarser, poorly sorted sediments. Flow tills, mainly representative of glacial stability followed by recession, present crude layering, and soft-sediment deformation structures with moderate fabric data and coarser to fine, poorly sorted sediments. Glacial diamictons affected by post-glacial paraglacial activity in the form of landslides were also observed in three valleys. These present weaker to moderate fabric data and coarser, poorly sorted sediments. These glacial diamictons and landforms are of particular importance in the reconstruction of the glacial dynamics and history of the Serra da Estrela Mountains due to a scarcity of chronological data based on absolute dating methods. These mountains also represent the southernmost Atlantic range in Europe where significant glaciation took place, which makes it an interesting area to investigate mountain glacial dynamics in low elevation humid Atlantic coastal ranges and compare it with other Atlantic ranges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A total of 156 glacial cirques located on two different areas in the Cantabrian Mountains (NW Spain) were identified and measured in order to continue and expand the study of these large-scale erosional forms in European mountains. Environmental variables that may explain cirque distribution (altitude, aspect and lithology), and their most important morphometric features (area, length (L), width (W), headwall height (H), and L/W, L/H and W/H indices), are analysed. Statistical analysis has been applied as indicators of contrast (ANOVA) and association (correlation and regression). Conglomerate analysis (CLUSTER) has been used to discriminate cirque groups based on their morphometric variables. Results show that cirques occur at lower altitudes in the Upper Sil River basin area than in the Montaña Central area due to a lower former equilibrium line altitude (ELA) position. In the Upper Sil River basin, environmental variables appear to have had a strong influence on the location and size of cirques: the largest cirques are located in quartzite rocks at elevations above 2000 m and face N or NE. In Montaña Central, the influence of these factors was more limited as a consequence of higher geological structure control. Cirque sizes generally are modest compared with cirques present in other mountain ranges globally, most likely due to shorter glacial occupancy in the Cantabrian Mountains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]