ENVIRONMENTAL GROUP, 21st of April 2011

In order to understand environmental issues of a particular space (Canary Islands) we decided to split up the topic in 4 branches of physical geography. The hierarchy plays an important role. On the first place we put the geology and tectonics, as the islands have a volcanic origin. As a result of volcanic rock on one hand and the climatic factors on the other, which are mainly dominated by NE-Trade-Winds, a unique landscape (geomorphology) evolved. The 3 main types of landforms are volcanic lava flows with recent basaltic eruptions, landslides and cliffs. As a consequence of geomorphology, geology and climate different sections of vegetation, that generally profits from fertile soils, can be found on the islands. Those are distributed according to altitude (vertically), orientation (horizontally). Also the human impact has to be mentioned, as agricultural landuse has altered the natural vegetation.