RT Journal Article
T1 The oldest managed aquifer recharge system in Europe: New insights from the Espino recharge channel (Sierra Nevada, southern Spain)
A1 Martos Rosillo, Sergio
A1 Ruíz Constán, Ana
A1 González Ramón, Antonio
A1 Mediavilla López, Rosa María
A1 Martín Civantos, Juan Manuel
A1 Martínez Moreno, Francisco José
A1 Jódar, Jorge
A1 Marín Lechado, Carlos
A1 Medialdea, Alicia
A1 Galindo Zaldívar, Jesús
A1 Pedrera, Antonio
A1 Durán, Juan José
AB In Sierra Nevada (southern Spain), the highest mountain range in southern Europe, the application of an ancestral Integrated Water Resources Management system (IWRM), based on the conjunctive use of groundwater and surface water, provides water resources for irrigation and supply in the driest months of the year in this semiarid mountain region. Meltwater is derived from the headwaters of the mountain streams and rivers through a set of uncoated channels excavated in the ground (locally known as acequias de careo) to infiltrate at the upper part of the valleys. Water infiltrated along the acequias de careo slowly flows down the hillsides, through the weathered zone of the hard rock aquifer and the glacial and periglacial sediments. The recharge accomplished through this Managed Aquifer Recharge technique (MAR) activates numerous springs located halfway down the hillside and increases the base flow of the rivers. In this study, focused on a careo channel located on the southern slope of Sierra Nevada called Acequia de El Espino, different archaeological, sedimentological, geophysical and hydrogeological techniques are applied to determine the age and the efficiency of this ancestral example of a MAR and IWRM system. Results suggest that the acequias de careo may be the oldest MAR system in Europe, and that this MAR technique could be applied in other high mountain alpine watersheds to mitigate the effects of climate change.
PB Elsevier
SN 0027-8424
YR 2019
FD 2019-11
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/112971
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/112971
LA eng
NO Martos-Rosillo, S., Ruiz-Constán, A., González-Ramón, A., Mediavilla, R., Martín-Civantos, J. M., Martínez-Moreno, F. J., Jódar, J., Marín-Lechado, C., Medialdea, A., Galindo-Zaldívar, J., Pedrera, A., Durán, J. J. (2019). The oldest managed aquifer recharge system in Europe: New insights from the Espino recharge channel (Sierra Nevada, southern Spain). Journal of Hydrology, 578, 124047.
NO Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (España)
NO Junta de Andalucia
DS Docta Complutense
RD 7 jun 2025