Mesa De Research Articles

Geotourism and Geoeducation: A Holistic Approach for Socioeconomic Development in Rural Areas of Los Santos Municipality, Santander, Colombia

This study emphasizes the untapped geotourism and geoeducation potential in the Mesa de Los Santos region, situated within the Chicamocha Canyon in Colombia, renowned for its abundant geoheritage. Despite the region's geological richness, geotourism development opportunities have been overlooked, leaving its geoheritage largely unexplored for tourism. Focused on the georoute Refugio La Roca—Los Santos, the study identifies key geosites with significant potential for future geotourism endeavors. The Mesa de Los Santos region boasts a complex geological history and diverse geodiversity shaped by various natural phenomena. However, its full geotourism potential remains undiscovered. The georoute, incorporating natural and cultural heritage, is strategically designed for geotourism and geoeducation, aiming at fostering geoconservation in rural areas. Educational and interpretive panels are employed as didactic resources to enlighten tourists about the natural phenomena shaping the landscape, enhancing their overall experience and understanding. By integrating geoethical considerations into geosite management, the study proposes achieving sustainable geoconservation in the Chicamocha Canyon territory. This approach not only contributes to preserving the region's geological uniqueness but also provides a platform for socio-economic development in rural areas. The study envisions creating meaningful experiences that attract tourists while benefiting local communities, thereby promoting holistic and sustainable rural development.

Enhancing equity of the post-disaster recovery governance through community data generation

Climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction policy frameworks emphasize the importance of engaging vulnerable communities in data creation and utilization to enhance resilience. Yet, empirical evidence on how capacity strengthening and community data generation can improve post-disaster recovery processes remains limited. To address this gap, this article investigates the post-disaster recovery process in the El Pacífico self-built neighborhood, located at the hillslopes of the rural-urban border of Medellín, Colombia. Utilizing participatory action research and documentation analysis, we examined documents related to the response and recovery committee (called “Mesa de Atención y Recuperación”) established following a severe flooding event. Our analysis reveals a lack of clearly defined procedures for engaging affected communities in the post-disaster efforts. However, we provide evidence that initiatives promoting equitable governance through capacity strengthening and community data generation, supported by our project, have effectively empowered community members, amplifying their voices in the negotiation with municipal authorities. These findings offer valuable insights that can inform more equitable future policies and practices in disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation with increased recognition and representation of marginalized urban residents.

Isotope study of monthly rainfall and its response in the Santos Formation phreatic aquifer, Mesa de Los Santos, Santander (Colombia)

Isotope study of monthly rainfall and its response in the Santos Formation phreatic aquifer, Mesa de Los Santos, Santander (Colombia)

Historical-semiotic and geological analysis of pictograms and petroglyphs in rocks-canvas located at Mesa de Los Santos (Santander-Colombia)

Este artículo presenta un análisis histórico-semioestilístico y un análisis geológico, vinculados a evidencia arqueoantropológica y documental de los vestigios pictográficos y petroglíficos del grupo indígena llamado Guane, que habitó en tiempos prehispánicos e indianos o coloniales, en el centro del actual departamento de Santander, en el nororiente de Colombia. La pregunta-problema orientadora de los análisis fue ¿Cómo eran las condiciones y características de las rocas-lienzo usadas por los Guane, que les permitieron materializar su escritura prehispánica? Particularmente, se analizaron petroglifos grabados y pictogramas dibujados en rocas usadas como lienzos o rocas-lienzos, cuyas narrativas fueron decoradas con tintes de color rojo, procedentes de escamas de rocas con mineralizaciones de hematitas, de gran presencia en las veredas el Diamante, el Pozo y las Gachas, en jurisdicción del municipio de Los Santos. Este municipio se sitúa en La Mesa de Los Santos, elevación que teniendo en cuenta su evolución geomorfológica y geográfica se define como un relieve estructural-denudacional con características de meseta. El análisis geológico permitió determinar que las rocas-lienzo de pictogramas se realizaron sobre materiales de rocas calcáreas, mientras los petroglifos fueron realizados en rocas de mayor resistencia mecánica tipo areniscas. Desde el punto de vista histórico-semiestilístico, se concluyó que los pictogramas y petroglifos Guane son huellas escriturales de una sociedad que merece estudiarse a profundidad, en aras de la conservación tanto del patrimonio cultural como del geológico, porque constituyen, en su conjunto, un servicio ecosistémico que aún no ha sido debidamente valorado en el ámbito regional.

Can southern Europe lead an urban energy transition? Insights from the Energy Transition Roundtable in Valencia, Spain

Multi-stakeholder engagement spaces are important instruments for transition governance. Due to their nature they require acute consciousness of the local context and place they are based in. The research presented in this paper adds to the body of literature on how to govern the energy transition at a local level, and contributes to filling the gap on the role of multi-stakeholder engagement groups in the energy transition process within a southern European context. Empirical evidence is drawn from the city of Valencia, Spain, where innovative formulas are being developed. One such innovation, the Mesa de Transición Energética (MTE – Energy Round Table), emerges as a multi-stakeholder, participatory and inclusive mechanism to define the roadmap towards achieving the energy transition and urban sustainability. This new experience in the city led to the discovery and exploration of the challenges, barriers, benefits and opportunities the city had to face, as well as clarifying how such multi-stakeholder engagement spaces can facilitate the energy transition path. The research evidenced that while participants and organizers were very satisfied with the development of the stakeholder group and the resulting demonstration projects used to enhance experimentation in the city, they signaled various difficulties. Such difficulties were rooted in the context and included dealing with an uneven vision of the transition, the vulnerability of the group due to the predominant role of the local administration, and a perceived lack of action. Nevertheless, the multi-stakeholder engagement space for the energy transition in Valencia can be seen as an important driver of change for the city. It can also be seen as an experimental model to be replicated in other Spanish or southern European cities.

Perception of the risk of living in the mediations of a final disposal site, El Salto, Mexico

[Introduction]: The study of risk perception refers to the reflections and evaluations of people about the dangers to which they, their facilities and their environment are or could be exposed and make decisions about it. [Objective]: This research analyzes the risk perception of the communities Mesa de los Laureles and Fraccionamiento Nueva Vizcaya located in El Salto, Jalisco, Mexico, which are in the vicinity of the Los Laureles Sanitary Landfill. In addition to this, the spatial relationship between the location of people and diseases sensitive to contamination is examined. [Methodology]: A quantitative methodology was used, complemented with Geographic Information Systems, field trips and in-depth interviews. 101 surveys were carried out, the questionnaire was divided into four sections with 21 questions. Descriptive statistics and analysis with simple linear regression and chi-square were performed. [Results]: perceives the changes in their environment, and identifies related diseases, such as gastrointestinal, respiratory, and dermal . Statistical models indicate that illnesses could tentatively be minimized by 2.73% if homes were 2.55 meters further from the landfill. [Conclusions]: the population still perceives the risk from a very limited notion of space, which prevents it from reacting to the threat, likewise it has a portfolio of risks, where living in the vicinity of the landfill is not seen as a significant threat to his physical well-being, and assumes it as an acceptable risk.

REBEL GOVERNMENT AND CIVILIAN RESISTANCE

Cañón de las Hermosas is located in a buffer zone of the Páramos Complex of the National Natural Park of the same name, located on the eastern flank of the Cordillera Central, in the Andean Region of Colombia. Several of the most recurrent symptoms in the diagnosis of civil war in the country were concentrated there: poverty and inequality, state precariousness-weakness, social and territorial control by armed groups, disputes over illegal rents derived from the cultivation and trafficking of illicit drugs (ECHANDÍA CASTILLA, 1996, 2000; APONTE GONZÁLEZ, 2019; OBSERVATORIO DE PAZ Y DERECHOS HUMANOS, 2020a, 2020b). This extensive zone was catalogued as one of the sanctuaries of the FARC guerrillas, which guaranteed security, collected taxes, administered justice and regulated coexistence efficiently and effectively through punishments, fines and executions. This happened, particularly with the protection of the environment, a phenomenon that comes close to what DÁVALOS calls "conservation at gunpoint" (DÁVALOS, 2001; CENTRO DE ESTUDIOS REGIONALES, 2020b). After the weakening of the guerrilla by the pacification operations during the 2000s, this conservation work was left in the hands of the civilian population, who denounced the destruction of fragile ecosystems due to the militarization of the territory, and particularly, the construction of a hydroelectric dam in the Amoyá river, in the heart of the Hermosas Canyon. In my work I argue that the Observatorio de Derechos Humanos para la Protección del Medio Ambiente and Mesa de la Transparencia del Cañón de las Hermosas can be characterized as civil resistance mechanisms, conceived with the objective of protecting the population and the environment (TAFUR VILLAREAL, 2021). Community preferences are explained by the degree of social cooperation expressed from the mobilization (protest) and organization capacities, which allowed them to join all the autonomous community spaces of the village of Las Hermosas in a social platform for direct and indirect dialogue with institutional and political actors (among which are included the armed, legal and illegal ones). At the methodological level, the research design and methods integrated fieldwork and archival review with qualitative analysis, and included field interviews, documentary and archival review.

Quantitative analysis of the fracture systems and groundwater implications in the south zone of the Mesa de Los Santos, Santander - Colombia

El análisis cuantitativo del sistema de fracturas emplea métodos y procesamientos estadísticos para determinar la geometría de las estructuras y parámetros como intensidad, densidad y longitud de fractura con el fin de identificar las zonas más favorables para la infiltración y almacenamiento de fluidos en un área específica. Para llevar a cabo este análisis en la zona sur de la Mesa de Los Santos se empleó el software FracPaQ, el cual mide y cuantifica patrones de fractura en dos dimensiones a partir de datos digitales obtenidos de fotografías de afloramientos; estos datos son mostrados en mapas de rangos y de dispersión para correlacionarlos con atributos geológicos registrados en cada estación. Se presenta también un análisis preliminar del flujo de fluidos en gráficos de conectividad y permeabilidad. Esta cuantificación permitió definir que las fallas NW-SE destacan en el arreglo espacial y por la apertura de las fracturas son potenciales corredores para la circulación de fluidos al sureste de la Mesa de Los Santos. Se propone la zona influenciada por la Falla La Mojarra como un sector de alta porosidad secundaria favorable para la infiltración y flujo subsuperficial asociado al miembro superior de la Formación Los Santos.

Tectonically driven drainage reorganization in the Eastern Cordillera, Colombia

High-elevation plateaus that are positioned in between topographic barriers are common orogenic features in the South American continent, formed under a range of evolving environmental conditions. For example, in the central Andes (Bolivia-Argentina), the Puna-Altiplano is arid and endorheic with a poorly developed fluvial system, while in the northern Andes (Colombia) the Chiquinquirà and Tunja highlands are characterized by a humid equatorial exorheic fluvial system. In addition to a plateau-like low-relief surface at 2500 m, the landscape of the northern Eastern Cordillera and Santander Massif (northern Colombia) displays a lower elevation (~1500 m) low-relief landscape (Mesas) comprising river captures, windgaps, and a disconnected alluvial fan that collectively record a transient state. This configuration has been achieved through a combination of compressive deformation and sub-crustal processes. The compressive shortening started to occur in the Paleogene and is still active, whereas regional surface uplift related to slab flattening and mantle wedge hydration started in the Late Miocene/Pliocene. To disentangle the crustal vs sub-crustal forcing and to investigate the relative timing of drainage network evolution we combine the analysis of topography, hydrography (river longitudinal profiles, morphometric parameters, drainage divide stability), knickpoint migration (celerity model), paleo-longitudinal profile modeling, satellite images, and field observations.In particular, we show that during the development of the low-relief Mesas landscape the older Chiquinquirà highland was a closed drainage and that the lower portion of the Suárez River flowed northward into the Bucaramanga depression forced by the Los Cobardes Anticline topographic barrier. The Suárez River collected waters from the southern Santander Massif and the upper reach of the Chicamocha River, which was draining the Tunja highland. An abandoned windgap deposit on the eastern edge of the Mesa de Barichara suggests that the lower portion of the Chicamocha River was not yet formed. Subsequent to the Chiquinquirà highland drainage opening, two main tributaries of the Magdalena River, the Lebrija and Sogamoso, captured the Suárez River in a short temporal sequence. A knickpoint celerity model allows us to date the Lebrija capture of the Bucaramanga depression at ~260–270 ka and the subsequent Sogamoso capture at 190–220 ka. Only during this final stage, the lowermost Chicamocha River section formed and the drainage network developed to its present configuration.Finally, we suggest that the early Cenozoic rift inversion has controlled the drainage network pattern and the late Miocene sub-crustal-induced surface uplift has driven the main fluvial network reorganization.

Sizing of a sustainable condensation system for the production of sweet water through the use of photovoltaic panels in La Mesa de los Santos, Santander, Colombia

The objective of the project is to carry out the dimensioning of a photovoltaic system that allows its integration with a condensation system for the production of fresh water in isolated areas (Rural), in such a way that a sustainable condensation application capable of producing water is generated. sweet to supply small groups of inhabitants in areas where the basic supply of liquid is deficient. The study area is the Department of Santander, Colombia, specifically in the Municipality of los Santos and the area known as Mesa de los Santos, in which difficult geographical conditions are presented such as: altitude of 1650 meters above sea level and deficiency in aquifers. The methodological development proposes the analysis of the meteorological conditions of the area, the identification, selection and dimensioning of the condensing system and the photovoltaic system through the amp-hour method and the software system advisor model (SAM). Additionally, a CAD model is developed to obtain the complete schematization of the model and carry out a simulation process to analyze the behavior of the integration of the aforementioned systems. Finally, a techno-economic analysis of the proposed system is carried out.

Les forums de développement rural ( Mesas de Desarrollo Rural ) en Uruguay : entre décentralisation et participation

L’article examine la participation des agriculteurs aux forums de développement rural ( Mesas de Desarrollo Rural (MDR)), dispositifs instaurés en Uruguay en 2007. Durant trois ans (2015-2017), plusieurs MDR ont été étudiées dans trois départements du pays à partir de l’application d’une grille d’analyse des variables de l’action publique. Les principales conclusions indiquent la flexibilité et l’adaptation de ces dispositifs aux conditions des territoires et des producteurs, leur ouverture à d’autres institutions sectorielles non agricoles et, dans plusieurs cas, des difficultés de maintien ou de renouvellement de la dynamique de participation, en particulier, des représentants des agriculteurs. Classification JEL : M19, Q11, R52, R58

Del sentido histórico a la agenda ampliada: la experiencia de la Mesa de Trabajo por los Derechos Humanos de Córdoba, Argentina

El artículo analiza la experiencia de la Mesa de Trabajo por los Derechos Humanos de Córdoba como referente paradigmático de articulación entre viejos y nuevos modos del compromiso político en el momento de su conformación y consolidación. En particular, reflexiona sobre las complejidades de la acción política y la cuestión de los derechos humanos en un régimen de historicidad diferente al relacionarlas con las derivas del tratamiento político e institucional de las demandas que la Mesa expresaba.

Desarrollo y comunicación de la Ruta Etnoturística de San Basilio de Palenque (Colombia)

San Basilio de Palenque es un corregimiento del municipio de Mahates en el Departamento de Bolívar (Colombia) declarado Patrimonio Inmaterial de la Humanidad por la Unesco en 2005. Ha encontrado en el turismo una oportunidad de visibilidad e ingresos económicos, lo que llevó a la comunidad en 2016 a proponer una Ruta Etnoturística. Es así como entre 2017 y 2018 se realizó un trabajo conjunto, entre la Mesa de Etnoturismo de San Basilio de Palenque, la Fundación Semana y la Escuela de Arquitectura y Hábitat de la Universidad de Bogotá Jorge Tadeo Lozano, con el fin de formular y desarrollar este proyecto concertado desde el territorio, a través de un laboratorio interdisciplinar y de creación participativa que estableció tres condiciones como punto de partida: 1) La valoración del “espacio cultural” palenquero, 2) Una mirada particular del territorio y 3) La relación entre cultura palenquera, patrimonio y turismo. En ese sentido, este documento sintetiza el proceso que permitió su diseño e implementación en el corregimiento.

3D digital outcrop modelling of the Lower Cretaceous Los Santos formation sandstones, Mesa de Los Santos region (Colombia): Implications for structural analysis

The increasing development of the geological data acquisition and processing techniques for outcrops from photographs acquired with the unmanned aerial vehicles has had a great impact on various branches of geology, such as structural geology. When approaching structural analysis, one of the main inputs is given by the fracture orientations. Therefore, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles is a great benefit for acquiring in a very short time, a large georeferenced dataset for fractures distribution and orientation, even in normally non-accessible outcrops. Access during the fieldwork, as well as the ease of data processing and visualization, constitute great advantages provided by the use of unmanned aerial vehicles in structural analysis and modelling. In this study, data were acquired from two outcrops from the Lower Cretaceous Los Santos Formation sandstones, Mesa de Los Santos region (Colombia), El Duende and La Mojarra outcrops. The data was processed in photogrammetry software, based on the structure from motion technique, with which a dense point cloud was obtained for each outcrop. The dense point cloud was processed with the Discontinuity Set Extractor software, obtaining the main families of discontinuities and their associated clusters. Later, as a validation, these orientations, which obtained in a digital way, were contrasted with field data, previously acquired in the area, obtaining a good consistency between both datasets. Finally, the data was associated with the regional structural trends evidenced in the field data, generating more data to improve the structural models of the area.

Archaeometry study of the mineral and chemical composition of pre-Hispanic pottery from “Los Teres”, Mesa de Los Santos (Colombia)

Archaeometry study of the mineral and chemical composition of pre-Hispanic pottery from “Los Teres”, Mesa de Los Santos (Colombia)

A Safer Housing Agenda for Women: Local Urban Planning Knowledge and Women's Grassroots Movements in Medellín, Colombia

AbstractThis essay looks at the process through which women's grassroots movements in Medellín, Colombia, were effective in ensuring that a gender perspective was incorporated into the city masterplan with the aim of making Medellín a safer city for women. Drawing on interviews with activists of the Mesa de Trabajo Mujer de Medellín (MTMM), one of the largest networks among women's grassroots movements, and interviews with officials working at the Office of the Secretary for Women and the Department of Planning, I argue that women's grassroots movements are actors in the urban planning process in Medellín. Focusing on the MTMM's agenda for safer housing, I show how the house represents a process that involves women's knowledge, relationships and experience. Furthermore, I show how housing acquires political meaning, becoming the site of negotiations between the MTMM, state urban planning practitioners and the local government.

An assessment of eggshell pigments as non-invasive biomarkers of organochlorine pollutants in gull-billed tern

Eggshell pigmentation has been assessed as an indicator of exposure to environmental pollutants in birds, but these studies have only used reflectance spectrophotometry to measure such pigmentation. The present study is the first one that measures eggshell pigments and pollutants in the same eggs to explore their use as biomarkers in birds. We have studied the concentration of organochlorine pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the content of 97 deserted eggs of gull-billed terns (Gelochelidon nilotica) after the abandonment of the colony in Mesas de Asta (Cádiz, S Spain) in 2012. Eggshell thickness and stage of embryo development were studied together along with the concentrations of protoporphyrin IX and biliverdin in eggshells. p,p′-DDE concentrations were high when compared with other studies done with terns in the Mediterranean basin in the past. p,p′-DDE and PCB levels associated with reduced reproductive success were found in 5.1% and 2.1% of the eggs respectively. Eggshell index was largely affected by the embryo development stage, which highlights the need of knowing this information to avoid potential biases in the interpretation of results. The concentrations of protoporphyrin IX and biliverdin in the eggs of gull-billed terns were negatively associated with DDTs levels, which seems to confirm previous observations with phylogenetically related species.

El carnaval criollo: apuntes para un análisis discursivo de la colección de los cuentos La mesa de los galanes

ABSTRACTThe work of Roberto Fontanarrosa has the peculiarity of encompassing different fields of aesthetic production (graphic humor, comics, literature, theater and more) without losing its coherence. A close examination of these works reveals the fact that Fontanarrosa resorted to local clichés and the “Argentinization” of foreign subjects (westerns, spy novels, classic works of literature, superhero comics), which in turn accounts for their influence upon his own original fictional universe. In this article we propose to carry out a discursive analysis of the collection of short stories entitled La mesa de los galanes, from the perspective of Bakhtin’s concepts of discursive genre and “carnival literature.”

Donde se dice el humor: La mesa de los galanes como espacio paratópico en los cuentos de Fontanarrosa

ABSTRACTThis article approaches Roberto Fontanarrosa’s short stories through the notions of exotopic or paratopic spaces. Such notions attempt to understand the ways in which the literary author is situated with respect to his own work. The point of departure is the series of short stories known as La mesa de los galanes, spread over several books, in which the author sets up a paratopic space. The bar El Cairo replaces the writing scene with the conversation scene, but much more importantly, it points to the origin of Fontanarrosa’s literary adventure. Furthermore, La mesa de los galanes works divides his more narrative stories and the theatrical ones, separating the more parodic from the mostly costumbrist—in short, separating Humor from Literature.

Long-term hydrodynamic effects of the All-American Canal lining in an arid transboundary multilayer aquifer: Mexicali Valley in north-western Mexico

The construction of the 42-km long All-American Canal in southern California (USA) near the border with Mexico in the 1940s generated infiltration which raised groundwater levels in the area inducing groundwater to flow into the Mexicali Valley aquifer (Mexico). In the late 2000s, the USA started a controversial lining project to reduce infiltration below the canal, with far-reaching consequences. This investigation implemented a numerical groundwater flow model to determine the hydrodynamic effects of the lining of the All-American Canal on the Mexicali Valley aquifer. For this purpose, plenty of information was acquired with a 32-year span of data and 88 monitoring wells in the area of interest. Field evidences and the model approach suggest that seepage from the All-American Canal resulted in the rise of groundwater levels to 14 m in the northern Mexicali Valley aquifer. However, continuous drawdowns were observed after concluding the lining in 2008, with the result of a drop in the water table to 5.8 m after 4 years of monitoring. A forecast shows that groundwater levels will tend to stabilize to those levels that existed prior to the infiltration produced by the canal. At the existing wetlands in the Mesa de Andrade in Mexico, a 1-m drawdown will be registered due to the lining, which could affect the existing ecosystem. Any additional extraction done on the Mesa de Andrade will likely dry the wetland.