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Glacial and periglacial Landscapes in Costa Rica
(2024-10-04) Quesada Román, Adolfo
Tropical regions in the Americas retain evidence of past glacial activity, offering insights into historical climate conditions, particularly during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Focusing on Costa Rica's higher summits, especially the Cordillera de Talamanca, this study identifies distinct features such as glacial cirques, polished bedrock, moraine and till deposits, and glacial-origin lakes. These remnants serve as invaluable indicators of past climatic conditions and contribute to understanding the maximum extent of tropical glaciation during the LGM in Costa Rica and broader tropical America. The Cordillera de Talamanca reveals areas significantly influenced by colder climates during the LGM. This research enhances our ability to reconstruct the interplay between climate and landscape evolution, deepening our understanding of the LGM in Costa Rica. The documented evidence forms a comprehensive narrative of the region's
paleoclimatic history, providing a foundation for comparative studies in tropical America. This study advances comprehension of tropical glacial landscapes by revealing nuanced features left by ancient glacial processes. The Cordillera de Talamanca emerges as a key repository of valuable information about past climatic conditions. Navigating through the glacial remnants of Costa Rica's higher summits unravels the mysteries of the LGM and its lasting impact on tropical American landscapes.
Geoheritage, geoconservation, and geotourism promotion in Costa Rica
(2024-10-04) Pérez Umaña, Dennis; Quesada Román, Adolfo
Tourism became one of the most important sectors of the economy in Costa Rica since the end of the 1980s. It is from the massive arrival of international tourists attracted by the ecotourism offer based on a robust national system of conservation areas as well as from a rapid adaptation of both public and private sectors that investments in projects to improve the conditions of access, dissemination, and diversification of tourist attractions throughout the country have been increasing steadily. This work shows the main geoheritage and geodiversity characteristics of Costa Rica and focus on an evaluation of the 28 national parks (NP) of the total protected areas of the National System of Conservation
Areas (SINAC) for a landscape and aesthetic, cultural, didactic, scientific, and tourism evaluation as potential geoparks. The evaluation determined that 13 of the NPs obtained a high rating, 11 were catalogued as medium, whilst four obtained a low rating. This initiative is an original and novel contribution for Costa Rica since it determines a baseline in the study of geosites and geoparks in the country. In addition, it shows the weaknesses and strengths of each national park in its objective to attract more visitors in the future.
Coastal and shallow marine geomorphology of Costa Rica
(2024-10-04) Cortés Núñez, Jorge; Quesada Román, Adolfo
Costa Rica has coasts on both the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean side, each with very different geomorphological characteristics. The Caribbean coast is 212 km long. To the north of the port area of Moín-Limón, the coast is rectilinear, with high-energy sandy beaches and coastal lagoons. To the south, fossil reef promontories intersperse with sandy beaches, with only two mangrove forests, numerous seagrass beds, and coral reefs. The Pacific coast is 1254 km long with two enclosed gulfs, Nicoya and Dulce, and open gulfs of Santa Elena, Papagayo, and Coronado. Rocky promontories are made of volcanic or sedimentary rocks, with beaches with many different types of sands in between. Isla del Coco, an oceanic island 500 km offshore in the Pacific, is characterized by basaltic outcrops, many cobble beaches, two sandy beaches, and two bays protected from the predominant southern wave activity.
Morphotectonic regions of Costa Rica: A review and updated classification
(2024-10-04) Arroyo Solórzano, Mario Andrés; Quesada Román, Adolfo
The tectonic and geomorphological dynamics of Costa Rica are primarily driven by the interaction of tectonic plates and erosional and weathering processes that take place in this tropical environment. We focus our study on the history and evolution of the morphotectonic classifications for Costa Rica using geological, morphological, and seismotectonic data. Based on an in-depth review and analysis of previous morphotectonic subdivisions for Costa Rica, a synthesis is proposed in this study. Moreover, we carefully revised the accuracy of boundaries between different morphotectonic units through a detailed evaluation of the adjustment. For this purpose, comparison of geological maps, topography, and in some cases seismic zonation was performed. We first propose a subdivision of major tectonic elements: (1) tectonic plates, (2) the most relevant tectonic-structural elements, and (3) the morphotectonic regions (Arc-Trench sector, Inner-Arc, and Back-Arc). Based on this, we established ten specific morphotectonic units, grouping and encompassing Costa Rica’s main reliefs and geomorphological features. These morphotectonic regions and units were formed primarily due to the interaction between the Cocos and Caribbean plates, and the Panama Microplate, in a subduction tectonic regime. Furthermore, is remarkable that the relief and morphotectonic composition of Costa Rica was originated due to historical interaction and evolution of several geotectonic processes, as well as the formation and modification of major tectonic structures or elements generated by the driving force of plate tectonics.
Derecha radical populista y anti-inmigración: narrativas y articulaciones de sentido entre el 2018 y el 2022 en Costa Rica
(2025-11-20) Herrera Bonilla, Stiven; Sandoval García, Carlos
El presente texto aborda el vínculo narrativo entre la Derecha Radical Populista (DRP) (Mudde, 2021) y la anti-inmigración. Para ello, se exploran las relaciones de sentido que se establecen entre ambas categorías a partir de la noción de “articulación” de Stuart Hall (1985). De esta manera se pretende ubicar las relaciones narrativas entre la anti-inmigración y los grupos de DRP entre el 2018 y el 2022.
Partiendo de una aproximación metodológica basada en el circuito de producción cultural de los estudios culturales y los aportes de los estudios narrativos , se realiza en un primer momento un análisis de contenido cualitativo en el grupo de Facebook Remo y en los grupos de TikTok llamados Cueva Patriótica y Costa Rica Nacionalista. Después, se realizaron dos entrevistas cualitativas con personas participantes y replicadoras de contenido del grupo Remo, esto con el fin de atender las maneras en que se conjuga las narrativas grupales con los asideros subjetivos.
El marco contextual hace un repaso bibliográfico con respecto al autoritarismo, al nativismo y la ultraderecha en Costa Rica, reflexionando en torno a la Revolución Cubana (1953) y después la Revolución Sandinista (1979) como coyunturas fundacionales para la agudización del anticomunismo en tanto eje articulador de la extrema derecha y la derecha radiacl. (Díaz, 2017; Garro, 2020). Después, se analiza de qué forma la caída de los socialismos reales en 1991 supuso un pasaje del “comunista” hacia el “inmigrante” como metáfora de alteridad política para las narrativas radicalizadas de la derecha política (Sandoval, 2002).
Lo resultados arrojan que el Populismo es el principal marco narrativo de la DRP, sin embargo, a la hora de conjugarse con otros subregistros de sentido, existe un traslado del populismo anti-comunista (2018-2021) al populismo autoritario (2022). Además, la inmigración constituye una amenaza con intensidad variable, pero con presencia constante para ambas articulaciones.
Por último, se plantea que las narrativas de la DRP operan a través de lo que he llamado la "producción del agravio", una estrategia fundamental que asigna causas y responsabilidades distorsionadas al deterioro social y político y cómo esta se relaciona se con la crisis de la "excepcionalidad costarricense".