Sergio Martos-Rosillo

• PhD
• Researcher at Geological Survey of Spain

We modeled the water level variations in a protected playa-lake system (La Ratosa Natural Reserve, S Spain) comprising two adjacent playa-lakes: La Ratosa and Herriza de los Ladrones. For this purpose, daily water balances were applied to reconstruct the water level. Model results were validated using actual water level monitoring over the past 20...

We modelled the water level variations in a protected playa-lake system (La Ratosa Natural Reserve, S Spain) comprising two adjacent playa-lakes: La Ratosa and Herriza de los Ladrones. For this pourpose, daily water balances were applied to reconstruct the water level. Model results were validated using actual water level monitoring over the past 2...

Groundwater management and governance have properties related to the long renewal time, evapo-concentration processes in the soil and interaction with the rock, and dispersion, mixing and degradation of possible contaminants. Groundwater is part of the hydrologic balance, with specific properties and different behaviours from that of surface water,...

Integrated water management and the application of ecohydrological nature-based solutions, albeit modern concepts, have been part of local resources management for centuries. Exemplary for that, and recently recognized as Spain’s first UNESCO-IHP Ecohydrology demonstration site, are the so-called acequias de careo - simple groundwater recharge chan...

Poster presented at CIAS2024

El Hidrogeodía es una actividad promovida por la Asociación Internacional de Hidrogeólogos-Grupo Español (AIH-GE). Consiste en una jornada para divulgar la importancia de las aguas subterráneas en la sociedad. Son excursiones didácticas gratuitas abiertas a todas las personas, sin importar su nivel de conocimiento en la materia, que están guiadas p...

Water Sowing and Harvesting (WS&H) is an ancestral knowledge widely used as a sustainable technique in water management. This study aims to analyse the importance, promotion, and cultural heritage of WS&H techniques through a literature review in Ecuador, considering applications of ancestral techniques by region (coastal, Andean and insular) with...

Study region: Sierra Nevada, Spain. Study focus: The local communities of the Sierra Nevada mountain range adapted to recurrent dry periods by spreading water along hillslopes with unlined channels that deviate surface runoff from headstreams during high flow periods. However, the impact of the so-called careo practice on river regimes in Sierra Ne...

This paper describes the use of a unique spatio-temporally resolved precipitation and temperature dataset to assess the spatio-temporal dynamics of water resources over a period of almost seven decades across the Sierra Nevada mountain range, which is the most southern Alpine environment in Europe. The altitude and geographical location of this iso...

Central Chile is undergoing its most severe drought since 2010, affecting ecosystems, water supply, agriculture, and industrial uses. The government's short-term measures, such as increasing groundwater extraction (by 383 % from 1997 to 2022), are exacerbating the situation, leading to long-term hydrological deterioration. The objective of this res...

Historical water management systems, in operation since the Islamic period (eighth to fifteenth centuries), have generated important irrigated areas and transformed the landscapes in a coevolutionary process over more than a thousand years. In the Sierra Nevada, the so-called acequias de careo stand out as a singular technical system for water rech...

The Careo ditches, hydraulic elements of an ancestral water management system, play an essential role in the hydrological functioning of watersheds in Sierra Nevada (South of Spain). This study seeks to characterize the hydrochemical and stable isotope compositions of surface water and groundwater in the high mountain watershed of the Alhorí river....

Conclusions learned on groundwater management and governance through the application to selected Spanish areas

Groundwater management and governance in the alpine Berchules watershed

WATER - Call for papers: Mountain Karst Aquifers Characterization You may send your manuscript now or up until the deadline (31 August 2023). For further reading, please follow the link to the Special Issue Website at: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/water/special_issues/X6094Y130J

Water Sowing and Harvesting is part of the methods based on nature that take up ancestral practices for efficient use of water, favoring the recharge of aquifers in wet periods for use in dry periods. Properly estimating the water resources available in a region or basin is fundamental for the sowing of water, for which different hydrological model...

Sierra Nevada is the main mountain range in southern Iberian Peninsula and has been catalogued as Biosphere Reserve (1986), Natural Park (1989) and National Park (1999). Apart from its ecological, geomorphological and landscape singularities, there are other hydrological, historical and cultural remarkable features, such as the ancestral water mana...

Careo channels are ancestral Nature-Based Solutions for water management that are used to recharge aquifers in the watershed of the Sierra Nevada Mountain massif (Spain). These hand-dug channels divert snowmelt from the headwaters of rivers and let it infiltrate into the upper parts of the hill slopes and by that increase the water resources availa...

In Sierra Nevada (Southern Spain), the ancestral surface water management achieved by irrigation canals, locally known as acequias de careo, play a major role for supplying the local population and irrigated crops. Data from 45 samples of springs, collected between July and September of 2019, has been used in this study to analize the hydrochemical...

Water management in tue Alpujarras has medieval origins. In the Trevélez river watershed, traditional management responds to the concept of integrated water resources management. In the upper the watershed, a significant part of the spring runoff flow, coming from the melting of the snow, is diverted from ravines to “careo” ditches, whose function...

La recarga artificial de acuíferos mediante acequias de careo es una solución tecnológica orientada a la gestión integral del recurso hídrico, la cual puede ayudar a paliar la creciente inseguridad hídrica de muchas regiones del mundo. Pese a su interés, el desarrollo de las técnicas de recarga artificial en zonas de alta montaña ha sido muy limita...

El régimen de comportamiento de los ríos de alta montaña en zonas semiáridas es muy sensible a los procesos de cambio climático, cuestión que tiene una especial repercusión en los ecosistemas acuáticos asociados. El aumento de la temperatura media del aire, en las cuencas hidrológicas de Sierra Nevada en el sur de España, está adelantando el pico n...

Nature-Based Solutions for Integrated Water Resources Management (NbS-IWRM) involve natural, or nature-mimicking, processes used to improve water availability in quantity and quality sustainably, reduce the risks of water-related disasters, enhance adaptation to climate change and increase both biodiversity and the social-ecological system’s resili...

CONTEXT: In the Middle Ages, the Muslims introduced communal water management in the Iberian Peninsula. Some irrigation systems of medieval origin are still in operation in the mountainous areas of Southern Spain. Snowmelt runoff is diverted during spring from high-altitude streams into contoured recharge ditches that convey the water to areas of h...

The evolution from Pleistocene to the Present of the main springs in a slope karstic aquifer (with an altitudinal difference and where the phreatic zone affects only the base of the slope) is studied in two different systems: Fuente Alta and La Natividad. The consequence of the evolution of the slope in Fuente Alta area is the existence of successi...

The evolution from Pleistocene to the Present of the main springs in a slope karstic aquifer (with an altitudinal difference and where the phreatic zone affects only the base of the slope) is studied in two different systems: Fuente Alta and La Natividad. The consequence of the evolution of the slope in Fuente Alta area is the existence of successi...

The “acequias de careo”, an ancestral surface water management technique, play a relevant role in the hydrological functioning of Sierra Nevada (South of Spain). In this study, hydrochemical and isotopic characterization of groundwater in the high mountain basin of Bérchules is carry out. For this study, data from 45 samples of springs, collected b...

Human activity has been fundamental in shaping the natural landscapes of Sierra NevadaSierra Nevada. This chapter offers an overview of the evolution of the occupation of this mountain range and of the changes in the ways of managing and exploiting its resources. The study spans the still poorly known Metal Ages and Roman period to medieval times,...

The acequias de careo are ancestral water channels excavated during the early Al-Andalus period (8th–10th centuries), which are used to recharge aquifers in the watersheds of the Sierra Nevada mountain range (Southeastern Spain). The water channels are maintained by local communities, and their main function is collecting snowmelt, but also runoff...

Las acequias de careo son estructuras ancestrales de manejo del agua que utilizan Soluciones Basadas en la Naturaleza para recargar los acuíferos en las cuencas del macizo montañoso de Sierra Nevada (España). Estas acequias consisten en canales excavados en el terreno que derivan el agua de deshielo de la cabecera de los ríos para infiltrarla en la...

Las zonas de alta montaña generan la mayor parte de recursos hídricos de los que se abastecen los ecosistemas ubicados en las zonas bajas. Cuando las montañas constituyen en sí un acuífero, el agua recargada permanece más tiempo en la cuenca, proporcionando así un recurso hídrico estratégico en las estaciones secas. Esto es especialmente importante...

Los tradicionales sistemas de manejo del agua, basados en el conocimiento ecológico de la población local, que se mantienen desde época andalusí en Sierra Nevada, tienen como elemento protagonista a las acequias de careo. Estas acequias consisten en unos canales excavados en el terreno, sin revestir, que derivan el agua de deshielo de la cabecera d...

La disposición geológica y tectónica de los carbonatos terciarios observada en la cabecera del río Arazas, Parque Nacional de Ordesa y Monte Perdido (PNOMP), con pliegues tumbados separados por cabalgamientos en varios niveles, se refleja en el desarrollo endokárstico, con una repetición vertical de patrones de cavernamiento. Las redes kársticas se...

RESUMEN Las galerías drenantes, o qanats según su acepción más internacional, son elementos singulares de captación de agua por su concepción técnica, su arquitectura y, especialmente, por su valor arqueológico, al tratarse de una de las técnicas de apro-vechamiento de recursos hídricos más antiguas, ya que su origen se remonta a los albores de la...

La Fortaleza de La Mota es un recinto defensivo levantado en la cúspide del cerro homónimo, en la localidad jienense de Alcalá la Real. Aunque presenta elementos anteriores, se considera que fue durante la época nazarí (siglos XIII y XIV) cuando alcanzó su mayor esplendor. Su ubicación, en el límite entre los reinos cristianos y musulmanes, provocó...

Water sowing and harvesting (WS&H), a term adopted from Latin America, is an ancestral process that involves gathering and infiltration (sowing) of rainwater, surface runoff, and groundwater to recover it (harvesting) later and/or elsewhere. The WS&H systems follow the approaches of integrated water resource management, nature-based solutions and t...

We investigated speleogenetical processes and the formation of unusual endo- and exokarstic features within carbonates rocks in the Sierra de Mollina mountain range (southern Spain), a sector affected by salt tectonics. Allochthonous Triassic evaporites partially overlie younger subsalt Jurassic limestones and dolostones. The carbonate beds show si...

Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (InSAR) is a remote sensing technique very effective for the measure of smalldisplacements of the Earth’s surface over large areas at a very low cost as compared with conventional geodetictechniques. Advanced InSAR time series algorithms for monitoring and investigating surface displacement on Earth arebased...

Dear Colleagues, High mountain zones are known as "water towers" because they generate the main water resources that feed the lowlands. Nevertheless, in these zones, surface runoff, which represents a large portion of precipitation, leaves the hydrological watersheds very fast. Mountain aquifers provide a strategic water resource to downstream depe...

The objective of this work is to characterize the impact of climate change in the karst aquifer of the Port del Comte Massif (PCM). Six regional climate models (RCMs) from CLYM'PY Project are used to analyse the magnitude and trends of changes on precipitation and temperature (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios) and how these changes propagate through the...

This study is focussed on the geomorphological characterization and the processes driving the evolution of the highest karst system in Western Europe, which is located in the Ordesa and Monte Perdido National Park (PNOMP), in the central-southern Pyrenees. The karst system does not seem to have a well-developed epikarst. The studied area shows a ka...

RESUMEN En la falda norte de Sierra Nevada nacen los ríos Alhorí, Bernal y Alcázar, cuyos cauces confluyen en las inmediaciones de localidad granadina de Jérez del Marquesado. Hasta hace pocos años, estas cuencas de alta montaña contaban con una densa red de acequias de careo, que consisten en canales excavados en el terreno que derivan el agua de...

Una de las principales singularidades de Sierra Nevada, en el sur de España, consiste en la peculiar forma de manejar el agua y el suelo que practican sus habitantes desde la época de Al-Ándalus. Los abundantes caudales de agua que liberan sus ríos, procedentes del deshielo, son retenidos en la montaña mediante su infiltración en la parte alta de l...

Water Sowing and Harvesting (WS&H) consists of a series of ancestral procedures by which humans collect and infiltrate (sow) rainwater and runoff underground, so as to recover (harvest) it downgradient at some later time. This management of the water has made it possible for various regions of Ibero-America that is, Latin America plus the Iberian P...

Time series of environmental tracers (groundwater stable isotope composition, electrical conductivity and temperature) and concentration breakthrough curves of artificial tracers (uranine, eosine, amino-G and naphtionate) have been analyzed to characterize fast preferential and slow matrix in-transit recharge flows in the Paleocene-Eocene limestone...

Water Sowing and Harvesting (WS&H) consists of a series of ancestral procedures by which humans collect and infiltrate (sow) rainwater and runoff underground, so as to recover (harvest) it downgradient at some later time. This management of the water has made it possible for various regions of Ibero-America that is, Latin America plus the Iberian P...

Water resources in high mountain karst aquifers are usually characterized by high precipitation than in the surrounding lowlands, with significant recharge and discharge that assure the sustainability of the downstream ecosystems. Consequently, these hydrogeological systems are highly vulnerable to the climate change. The mean transit time (MTT) is...

Most of the athalassic saline and hypersaline lakes are located in arid and semiarid regions where water availability drives the hydrological dynamics of the lake itself and the associated ecosystems. This is the case of the Salada de Chiprana Lake, in the Ebro River basin (Spain). It is the only athalassic permanent hypersaline lake in Western Eur...

El actual modelo de gestión del agua basado en el uso exclusivo de infraestructura gris (construida por el hombre) necesita de un nuevo enfoque que permita encarar los crecientes desafíos de seguridad hídrica que conllevan el aumento de la población y el cambio climático. La Comisión Europea está favoreciendo nuevos modelos de gestión del agua en l...

RESUMEN Sierra Nevada es la principal cadena montañosa del sur de la Península Ibérica y está catalogada comoReserva de la Biosfera (1986), Parque Natural (1989) y Parque Nacional (1999). Entre sus muchas singularida-des de tipo ecológico, geomorfológico y paisajístico, hay otras de tipo hidrológico e histórico-cultural, comola del manejo ancestral...

This paper presents an application of the vegetation index (VI), observed using satellite images, to estimate the water consumption of the vegetation in two neighboring high mountain basins in southern Spain. An assessment of the water resources in both basins is carried out, including the recharge of the underlying aquifer. The VI approach is comb...

Sierra Nevada is the main mountain range in the southern Iberian Peninsula and has been catalogued as a Biosphere Reserve (1986), a Natural Park (1989) and a National Park (1999). Apart from its ecological, geomorphological and landscape singularities, there are other remarkable hydrological, historical and cultural features, such as the ancestral...

High mountain karst aquifers located in pristine zones are often an important source of water supply downstream. These hydrological systems with typically short transit times are very vulnerable and there is a general consensus regarding the necessity of their protection. Despite of that, most of these high-mountain hydrogeological systems are not...

High mountain karst aquifers located in pristine zones are often an important source of water supply downstream. These hydrological systems with typically short transit times are very vulnerable and there is a general consensus regarding the necessity of their protection. Despite of that, most of these high-mountain hydrogeological systems are not...

High mountain karst aquifers generate important natural water resources that are used in the low zones to satisfy the demand of both the users depending on this resource and the existing downstream ecosystems. These hydrological systems are highly vulnerable, especially those located in the drought-prone Mediterranean area, where climate change is...

WATER BALANCE ESTIMATION To estimate the PNOMP water balance in ARB an HBV model is used (Fig.2A). To this end two vegetation zones are considered, (1) open areas and areas with mountain meadows corresponding to zones of both poor or no soils where karst landforms are well developed and (2) areas with alpine forest with moderate to well-developed s...

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. Me...

Water resources in high mountain karst aquifers are usually characterized by high rainfall, recharge and discharge that lead to the sustainability of the downstream ecosystems. Nevertheless, these hydrological systems are vulnerable to the global change impact. The mean transit time (MTT) is a key parameter to describe the behavior of these hydrolo...

This work explores the dynamics of the water consumed by the vegetation in two Mediterranean watersheds of Sierra Nevada Mountains (Southern Spain). This region has experienced an increase in the demand of water in the last years due to the growth of irrigated areas, and a new water resources plan is required. The evapotranspiration (ET) of irrigat...

La captación de agua subterránea ha sido una preocupación constante en la historia de la humanidad, bien documentada desde tiempos prehistóricos hasta la Edad Media, cuando se construyeron las grandes catedrales góticas españolas. Buena parte de nuestra geografía se encuentra salpicada de antiguas obras hidráulicas construidas para captar agua subt...

En el presente trabajo se estima el tiempo de tránsito del agua subterránea que descarga por los manantiales principales del Macizo del Port del Comte. Para ello se utilizan dos métodos diferentes: (1) la aproximación clásica que estudia cómo se amortigua en el agua de descarga la amplitud de la variación estacional del contenido isotópico de la re...

En el presente trabajo se comparan los tiempos de tránsito del agua subterránea que descarga por los manantiales principales del Macizo del Port del Comte (NE Pirineo Oriental) cuando estos se obtienen mediante (1) un modelo analítico basado en la amortiguación de la amplitud de la variación estacional del contenido isotópico de la recarga observad...

In many of the alpine watersheds of Sierra Nevada (Southern Spain) exists an ancient network of dug canals that collect, transport and facilitate the recharge the snowmelt in the underlying aquifer during the spring season. This practice, known as careos, in the lower part of the watersheds supply drinking water as spring discharge during the dry s...

La Siembra y Cosecha del Agua (SyCA) consiste en una serie de procedimientos ancestrales con los que el hombre recolecta e infiltra (siembra) el agua de lluvia y de escorrentía (subterránea, superficial e hipodérmica) en el subsuelo para poder capturarla (cosecharla) tiempo después. Esta forma de manejo del agua ha permitido que las zonas de regadí...

In this paper we analyze the subsidence behavior of a coastal area in the province of Málaga (Costa del Sol), southern Spain, in the period 1992-2018 using C-band SAR interferometry. The area comprises several zones of interest where continuous deformation has happened during the analyzed period. Using SAR data from ESA’s ERS-1/2, Envisat, and Sent...

Las cuevas son ambientes muy conservativos que suelen mantener un registro sedimentario muy nítido. El estudio de sedimentos detríticos y de precipitación química, espeleotemas, en estos ambientes es una herramienta muy útil para determinar la evolución paleoambiental en sistemas de cavidades y, por ende, del funcionamiento paloehidrogeológico de u...

Una de las principales singularidades de Sierra Nevada consiste en el ancestral procedimiento de manejo del agua que realizan sus habitantes. Este sistema les permite retener en el subsuelo las aguas del deshielo para así poder abastecerse y regar sus campos durante los periodos secos. Mediante una densa red de canales excavados en la tierra (acequ...

El estudio de sedimentos detríticos y de precipitación química en cavidades es una herramienta muy útil como proxy del registro de cambios climáticos pasados y, por tanto, para la reconstrucción e interpretación paleoclimática de una región debido al carácter altamente conservativo de estos. En Sima Engañá (Sierra de las Nieves, SE de la Península...

La Sierra de Mollina se localiza al N de la provincia de Málaga, en la cuenca vertiente a la laguna de Fuente de Piedra. En su ladera sudoriental se conocen varias cavidades asociadas a dolinas de colapso. A partir de datos geológicos y geofísicos, se ha caracterizado la estructura de la sierra, se han analizado los aspectos hidrogeológicos que con...

Assessing water resources in high mountain semi-arid zones is essential to be able to manage and plan the use of these resources downstream where they are used. However, it is not easy to manage an unknown resource, a situation that is common in the vast majority of high mountain hydrological basins. In the present work, the discharge flow in an un...

Epikarst – the shallow, surficial part of a karstic massif – has a significant influence on the spatio-temporal variability of recharge and the hydrodynamic functioning of many karst aquifers. In the Mediterranean morphoclimatic zone, the average thickness of a well-developed epikarst is around ten metres, but the spatial patterns of its degree of...

This work explores the dynamics of the water consumed by the vegetation in two Mediterranean watersheds of Sierra Nevada Mountains (Southern Spain). This region has experienced an increase in the demand of water in the last years due to the growth of irrigated areas, and a new water resources plan is required. The evapotranspiration of irrigated ho...

This research underlines the need to improve water management policies for areas linked to confined karstic aquifers subjected to intensive exploitation, and to develop additional efforts towards monitoring their subsidence evolution. We analyze subsidence related to intensive use of groundwater in a confined karstic aquifer, through the use of the...

The correct characterization of aquifer parameters is essential for water‐supply and water‐quality investigations. Slug tests are widely used for these purposes. While free software is available to interpret slug tests, some codes are not user‐friendly, or do not include a wide range of methods to interpret the results, or do not include automatic,...

In most high-mountain watersheds of Sierra Nevada, in southern Spain, there is a system of artificial recharge of aquifers that has been in operation at least since the Middle Age. In the upper part of the basins meltwater is derived towards a few uncoated channels dug in the ground which are known as“acequias de careo”. Meltwater flowing through t...

La Sierra de Loja forma parte del acuífero de Sierra Gorda, uno de los más importantes de Andalucía. La gran extensión de los carbonatos que la forman y las extraordinarias morfologías kársticas que se han desarrollado en su superficie hacen que un gran volumen del agua de lluvia que cae sobre ella penetre por el terreno, se almacene y circule haci...

In this paper we analyze the subsidence behavior of a coastal area in the province of Málaga (Costa del Sol), southern Spain, in the period 1992-2018 using C-band SAR interferometry. The area comprises several zones of interest where continuous deformation has happened during the analyzed period. Using SAR data from ESA’s ERS-1/2, Envisat, and Sent...

Resumen En las partes altas de Sierra Nevada (sur de España) se realiza, desde época andalusí (Edad Media), un Sistema Integrado de Gestión del Agua Subterránea, en el que las acequias de careo constituyen un elemento clave. Estos canales excavados en el terreno están diseñados para recargar las aguas procedentes del deshielo, a lo largo de su reco...

Aquifers in permeable formations developed in high-mountain watersheds slow down the transfer of snowmelt to rivers, modifying rivers' flow pattern. To gain insight into the processes that control the hydrologic response of such systems the role played by groundwater in an alpine basin located at the southeastern part of the Iberian Peninsula is in...

Main rivers have been traditionally linked with important human settlements through history. The increasing development of the cities and the dynamism of these media demand the use of multidisciplinary approaches to characterize the drainage network evolution in relation with urbanized areas. In this study, we report the vertical ground motion in t...

The adequate management of small aquifers located in structurally complex areas requires detailed geological and hydrogeological knowledge of the system. The analysis may include features related to the aquifers´ 3D geometry, their lateral connection with other aquifers, their hydraulic parameters, and their storage and recovery capacities during d...

Major rivers have traditionally been linked with important human settlements throughout history. The growth of cities over recent river deposits makes necessary the use of multidisciplinary approaches to characterize the evolution of drainage networks in urbanized areas. Since under-consolidated fluvial sediments are especially sensitive to compact...