PaleoRiada: a new integrated spatial database of palaeofloods in Spain

Abstract

Palaeoflood records are natural evidence of past flood events (typically found in landforms, sediments, or vegetation). Over the last 25 years, several palaeoflood record databases have been implemented. However, many of these databases are outdated, lack accessible or comprehensive palaeohydrological information, and present challenges in terms of data accessibility and reuse, particularly for non-research communities (e.g. planning administrations or flood risk managers). This work introduces PaleoRiada, the first open database that compiles published palaeoflood records from Spain. PaleoRiada stores typological, hydrological, temporal, and spatial data collected from approximately 126 publications (including journal articles, scientific reports, and book chapters). This database has been implemented using a simple Relational Database Management System (RDMS), integrated into a web platform, and is freely accessible at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17391823 (Sandoval-Rincón et al., 2025). The PaleoRiada database contains 299 palaeoflood records (both geological and biological) dated between 2014 CE and 97 000 BP and distributed across both Atlantic (164) and Mediterranean (135) catchments. PaleoRiada includes 157 records with specific discharge values ranging from 0.02 to 320m3 km-2 s-1. These records are associated with a variety of river systems, including wide alluvial plains (25), Mediterranean ephemeral streams (17), mountain torrents (36), and confined valley rivers (79). Additionally, they encompass overbank flood events (102), flash floods (48), dam failures (1), and hyperconcentrated flow events (6). The relationship between PaleoRiada and the Spanish Flood-prone Mapping Project (SNCZI) indicates that approximately 80% of the PaleoRiada records are not included in the flood-prone areas defined by SNCZI. Therefore, several records can be consulted to prioritise or propose new areas for preliminary flood risk assessment. Accessibility and simplified data query and entry in PaleoRiada can facilitate the application of palaeoflood data in land planning and flood risk management.