Nature-Based Solutions for Flood Mitigation and Soil Conservation in a Steep-Slope Olive-Orchard Catchment (Arquillos, SE Spain)
The frequency and magnitude of flash floods in the olive orchards of southern Spain have increased because of climate change and unsustainable olive-growing techniques. Affected surfaces occupy <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline&q...
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MDPI AG
2023-02-01
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| Series: | Applied Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/13/5/2882 |
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| author | Patricio Bohorquez Francisco José Pérez-Latorre Inmaculada González-Planet Raquel Jiménez-Melero Gema Parra |
| author_facet | Patricio Bohorquez Francisco José Pérez-Latorre Inmaculada González-Planet Raquel Jiménez-Melero Gema Parra |
| author_sort | Patricio Bohorquez |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The frequency and magnitude of flash floods in the olive orchards of southern Spain have increased because of climate change and unsustainable olive-growing techniques. Affected surfaces occupy <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mo>></mo><mn>85</mn><mo>%</mo></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> of the rural regions of the Upper Guadalquivir Basin. Dangerous geomorphic processes record the increase of runoff, soil loss and streamflow through time. We report on ripple/dune growth over a plane bed on overland flows, deep incision of ephemeral gullies in olive groves and rock-bed erosion in streams, showing an extraordinary sediment transport capacity of sub-daily pluvial floods. We develop a novel method to design optimal solutions for natural flood management and erosion risk mitigation. We adopt physical-based equations and build a whole-system model that accurately reproduces the named processes. The approach yields the optimal targeted locations of nature-based solutions (NbSs) for active flow-control by choosing the physical-model parameters that minimise the peak discharge and the erosion-prone area, maximising the soil infiltration capacity. The sub-metric spatial resolution used to resolve microtopographic features of terrains/NbS yields a computational mesh with millions of cells, requiring a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) to run massive numerical simulations. Our study could contribute to developing principles and standards for agricultural-management initiatives using NbSs in Mediterranean olive and vineyard orchards. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T07:31:30Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-164b02ab8e2b46b08e3112a9f4b53906 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-3417 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T07:31:30Z |
| publishDate | 2023-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Applied Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-164b02ab8e2b46b08e3112a9f4b539062023-11-17T07:16:20ZengMDPI AGApplied Sciences2076-34172023-02-01135288210.3390/app13052882Nature-Based Solutions for Flood Mitigation and Soil Conservation in a Steep-Slope Olive-Orchard Catchment (Arquillos, SE Spain)Patricio Bohorquez0Francisco José Pérez-Latorre1Inmaculada González-Planet2Raquel Jiménez-Melero3Gema Parra4Department of Mechanical and Mining Engineering, University of Jaén, 23071 Jaén, SpainCentre of Advanced Studies in Earth Science, University of Jaén, 23071 Jaén, SpainDepartment of Mechanical and Mining Engineering, University of Jaén, 23071 Jaén, SpainCentre of Advanced Studies in Earth Science, University of Jaén, 23071 Jaén, SpainCentre of Advanced Studies in Earth Science, University of Jaén, 23071 Jaén, SpainThe frequency and magnitude of flash floods in the olive orchards of southern Spain have increased because of climate change and unsustainable olive-growing techniques. Affected surfaces occupy <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mo>></mo><mn>85</mn><mo>%</mo></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> of the rural regions of the Upper Guadalquivir Basin. Dangerous geomorphic processes record the increase of runoff, soil loss and streamflow through time. We report on ripple/dune growth over a plane bed on overland flows, deep incision of ephemeral gullies in olive groves and rock-bed erosion in streams, showing an extraordinary sediment transport capacity of sub-daily pluvial floods. We develop a novel method to design optimal solutions for natural flood management and erosion risk mitigation. We adopt physical-based equations and build a whole-system model that accurately reproduces the named processes. The approach yields the optimal targeted locations of nature-based solutions (NbSs) for active flow-control by choosing the physical-model parameters that minimise the peak discharge and the erosion-prone area, maximising the soil infiltration capacity. The sub-metric spatial resolution used to resolve microtopographic features of terrains/NbS yields a computational mesh with millions of cells, requiring a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) to run massive numerical simulations. Our study could contribute to developing principles and standards for agricultural-management initiatives using NbSs in Mediterranean olive and vineyard orchards.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/13/5/2882nature-based solutionsdistributed hydrological modelIBER+Guadalquivir BasinEuropean Union Directive 2007/60flash flood |
| spellingShingle | Patricio Bohorquez Francisco José Pérez-Latorre Inmaculada González-Planet Raquel Jiménez-Melero Gema Parra Nature-Based Solutions for Flood Mitigation and Soil Conservation in a Steep-Slope Olive-Orchard Catchment (Arquillos, SE Spain) Applied Sciences nature-based solutions distributed hydrological model IBER+ Guadalquivir Basin European Union Directive 2007/60 flash flood |
| title | Nature-Based Solutions for Flood Mitigation and Soil Conservation in a Steep-Slope Olive-Orchard Catchment (Arquillos, SE Spain) |
| title_full | Nature-Based Solutions for Flood Mitigation and Soil Conservation in a Steep-Slope Olive-Orchard Catchment (Arquillos, SE Spain) |
| title_fullStr | Nature-Based Solutions for Flood Mitigation and Soil Conservation in a Steep-Slope Olive-Orchard Catchment (Arquillos, SE Spain) |
| title_full_unstemmed | Nature-Based Solutions for Flood Mitigation and Soil Conservation in a Steep-Slope Olive-Orchard Catchment (Arquillos, SE Spain) |
| title_short | Nature-Based Solutions for Flood Mitigation and Soil Conservation in a Steep-Slope Olive-Orchard Catchment (Arquillos, SE Spain) |
| title_sort | nature based solutions for flood mitigation and soil conservation in a steep slope olive orchard catchment arquillos se spain |
| topic | nature-based solutions distributed hydrological model IBER+ Guadalquivir Basin European Union Directive 2007/60 flash flood |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/13/5/2882 |
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