Antioquian Landscape: Another perspective

Abstract

This paper attempts to focus on landscapes from the standpoint of their origin in order to give nonscientific readers a better perception of their beauty. After a brief discussion on the evolution of the ideas related to landscapes, their components are analysed from the viewpoint of different fields of Earth Sciences. Factors which contribute to their formations are considered, in particular those which intervene in the humid climates of tropical mountains. Due attention is paid to changes in their external condition, as climatic fluctuations, a matter still exposed to speculations in spite of recent technical and scientific advances.

Great landscape units of the Antioquia department are shortly depicted and several examples of the dynamics of the geomorphological evolution which characterise the steepest areas of the department are presented. Finally, some suggestions are made to improve the understanding of good observers mainly interested in the aesthetic perception of landscapes, who may reach a better comprehension through the knowledge of their origin and evolution.