RT Journal Article
T1 Hydro-environmental changes assessment after Guadalhorce River mouth channelization. An example of hydromodification in southern Spain
A1 Nieto-López, José Manuel
A1 Barberá-Fornell, Juan Antonio
A1 Andreo-Navarro, Bartolomé
A1 Ramírez-González, José Miguel
A1 Rendón Martos, Manuel
K1 Guadalhorce - Cauces
AB The Guadalhorce River mouth (Málaga, Southern Spain) was channelized between 1997 and 2003 to reduceflooding potential in adjacent densely populated sections of Málaga. The channel was bifurcated near theMediterranean Sea, surrounding an isolated wetland complex composed of eight different ponds. Groundwaterlevel and wetland-stage data, combined with water-chemistry data from wells and wetlands, collected since1977, have documented the hydrological and ecological responses to channelization. The results show thatchannelization has extended the tidal influence inland from the Mediterranean Sea through the GuadalhorceRiver and the subjacent coastal aquifers, producing a change in groundwater hydrodynamics. The isolation ofthe wetlands resulting from channelization has provoked a significant salinization of both surface water andgroundwater, the extent of which varies among wetlands. These decadal-scale changes in water chemistry havepromoted the appearance or increase of halophilic vegetation and have caused a shift from diving birds topredominantly shorebirds in some wetlands. Documentation of these unexpected ecosystem responses is a necessary first step for land managers who need to consider groundwater and surface water as a single resource,particularly in groundwater-dependent ecosystems along the densely populated and ecologically sensitiveMediterranean coastal areas.
PB Elsevier
YR 2020
FD 2020-02-01
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10630/30132
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10630/30132
LA eng
NO Nieto-López, J.M., Barberá, J.A., Andreo, B., Ramírez-González, J.M., Rendón-Martos, M., 2020. Hydro-environmental changes assessment after Guadalhorce River mouth channelization. An example of hydromodification in southern Spain. Catena 189, 104461. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2020.104461.
NO This work was supported by the Andalusian Regional Agency of Environment and Land Management. It is a contribution of the Research Group RNM-308 of the Andalusian Government to the project “Hydrological and environmental restoration of wetlands in the delta of Guadalhorce River (Málaga, Spain) reusing treated wastewater”, funded by the CocaCola Foundation (Atlanta, US), Grant ID: 28374173.
DS RIUMA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Málaga
RD 20 ene 2026