Climate-Morphogenetic and Morphodynamic Zones of the Western Cordillera in Peru

The description of climate-morphogenetic and morphodynamic zonation aspires to a complex characterization and bridges the gap between climatic and geomorphic settings. Ongoing and future climate-change effects are prominent for landscape evolution as well as for natural hazard processes. The profile from the coastal zone and foothills across the Cordillera Negra, Santa River valley (Callejón de Huaylas) and the Cordillera Blanca represents a large variety of vertical zones with various environments. An atypical mezzo or microclimate may be found in narrow canyon-like valleys. With respect to the above-mentioned climatic characteristics (preconditions), subsequent regionalization may be performed according to Peñaherrera (Gran Geografía del Perú, vol I. Barcelona, 1986). The coastal zone including the foothills climbs to 1000 m a.s.l., while most of the area is covered by mountainous zones (local names: Yunga, Quechua, Suni, Puna, and Janca). The regionalization is based on similar conditions in terms of elevation, temperature, precipitation (including rainfall, snow, mist etc.), air pressure, and vegetation, and is usually related to specific morphological units.