This book presents extensive and new information on the Cenozoic marine and continental systems of one of the most important World Heritage sites of Southern South America: The Península Valdés, a Patagonian nature reserve on the coast of Argentina. Using an interdisciplinary approach, that includes geological, biological and archeological perspectives of more than 30 specialists, an integrated description and analysis of the Cenozoic environments of the study region is presented. The volume brings together an update of the geology, climate, geomorphology, soils, biodiversity, archeology and human impact of the Península Valdés. The scope of this book extends to any natural science researcher of the world interested on the Cenozoic history of the Península Valdés.
1. Geotectonic setting and geological controls over the Cenozoic record
2. Geology and Stratigraphy
3. Present climate within a regional framework
4. Late Cenozoic landforms and landscape evolution
5. Soil landscapes: pedogenic processes and soil-geomorphic relationships
6. Vegetation: hotspots for conservation
7. Diversity and ecological interactions
8. Paleoenvironmental reconstruction of the Miocene transgressions: sedimentary and paleontological approaches
9. Coastal Quaternary morphodynamics
10. Groundwater resources
11. Archaeology
12. The Antropocene: soil degradation processes an spatially explicit assessment