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The spatial distribution of faults is usually described as a fractal set characterised by the fractal dimension. In this work, we have filtered fault patterns interpreted from digital elevation models, aerial photographs and field maps, by using structural geological parameters of the stress ellipsoid (stress tensor direction and stress ratio R 0 ) and age of deformation. From these filtered structural maps, we have obtained the fractal dimension associated with the fracture patterns developed during Permo-Triassic and Alpine tectonic events on a Variscan granitic massif located in the Spanish Central System. Oriented fractal dimensions were calculated on several transects crossing the fault-filtered maps. The fractal dimension (D), calculated by 1-D box-counting, describes an ellipse on a polar plot with the short axis as the minimum value (D Hmin ) and the long axis as the maximum value (D Hmax ) of the fractal dimensions measured. From these analyses, we have defined the F-parameter as a function of the maximum value, minimum value and vertical value of fractal dimension (D z ), FZ(D z KD Hmin )/(D Hmax K D Hmin ). Finally we have established, from a local scale analysis, a perpendicular relationship between the principal axes of the ellipse of the fractal spatial anisotropy of fractures and the principal axes of the stress tensor (s Hmax , s Hmin and s z ) that generates this dynamic pattern of fractures. Furthermore, the F-parameter and the stress ratio R 0 are equivalents and, applied in this area, both show a triaxial extension.

Deception Island (South Shetlands, Antarctica) is one of the most active volcanoes in Antarctica, having erupted recently in 1967Antarctica, having erupted recently in , 1969Antarctica, having erupted recently in and 1970, damaging scientific stations on the island. It is also seismically very active. The island has attracted the attention of many researchers as it constitutes an undisturbed natural laboratory to study seismo-volcanic events and how they affect landscape modelling and evolution. One of the most remarkable geological and geomorphological features on Deception Island is the linearity of its easternmost coastal landform, the origin of which remains unknown. Some answers, based on presence of strike-slip fault or on the ice cap and beach geomorphological dynamics, have been reported in the literature. Our new work provides several indications of the existence of a dip-slip submarine fault, parallel to the coast (NNW-SSE), which suggests a tectonic origin for this morphological feature. Uplifted marine terraces, incision of a fluvial network over the ice cap, normal faulting parallel to the coast in the north and south rock heads bounding the beach and sharp shelf-break with rather constant slope, constitute some of this evidence. Terrace uplift and fluvial channel incision decreasing southward from Macaroni Point, indicates possible tilt movement across this inferred fault plane.

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About 80% of the world's oceanic shorelines include diverse types of cliffed and rocky coasts: plunging cliffs, bluffs backing beaches and rocky shore platforms. In combination, approximately 60% of the world's population lives within 60 km of the coast. Rapidly retreating soft cliffs may be found worldwide and are particularly vulnerable to changes in the forcing factors. The study and analysis of the rate of change in shoreline position through time is important or even imperative for coastal management. The development of cliff erosion predictive models is mainly limited to geomorphological data because of the complex interactions between physical-chemical processes acting simultaneously in time and space that result in large scale variations. Current historical extrapolation models use historical recession data, but different environments with the same historical values can produce identical annual retreat characteristics despite the potential responses to a changing environment being unequal. For that reason, process-response models (PRMs) are necessary to provide quantitative predictions of the effects of natural and human-induced changes that cannot be predicted using other models. Several models are explained and discussed, including a process-response model, based on real data at Holderness Coast (UK).