Geomorphic monitoring and response to two dam removals: rivers Urumea and Leitzaran (Basque Country,Spain) |
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| Authors: | Askoa Ibisate Alfredo Ollero Daniel Ballarín Jesús Horacio Daniel Mora Amaia Mesanza Carles Ferrer‐Boix Vanesa Acín David Granado Juan Pedro Martín‐Vide |
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| Institution: | 1. Geography, Prehistory and Archaeology, University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU, Vitoria‐Gasteiz, Araba, Spain;2. Geography and Regional Planning, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain;3. University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain;4. Laboratorio de Tecnoloxía Ambiental, Instituto de Investigacións Tecnolóxicas, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain;5. Geography, University of Concepcion, Concepción, Chile;6. Medio Ambiente, MASTERGEO, Zaragoza, Spain;7. Mining and Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science, Topography Section, University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU, Vitoria‐Gasteiz, Spain;8. Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada;9. Ecología y Territorio, ECOTER, Zaragoza, Spain;10. Hydraulic, Maritime and Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain |
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| Abstract: | Dam removal has been demonstrated to be one of the most frequent and effective fluvial restoration actions but at most dam removals, especially of small dams, there has been little geomorphological monitoring. The results of the geomorphological monitoring implemented in two dams in the rivers Urumea and Leitzaran (northern Spain) are presented. The one from the River Urumea, originally 3.5 m high and impounding 500 m of river course, was removed instantaneously whereas that in the River Leitzaran, 12.5 m high, and impounding 1500 m of river course, is in its second phase of a four‐stage removal process. Changes in channel morphology, sediment size and mobility and river bed morphologies were assessed. The monitoring included several different techniques: topographical measurements of the channel, terrestrial laser scanner measurements of river bed and bars, sediment grain size and transport; all of them repeated in four (May, August, November 2011 and May 2012) and five (July and September 2013, April and August 2014 and June 2015) fieldwork campaigns in the River Urumea and River Leitzaran, respectively. Geomorphic responses of both dam removals are presented, and compared. Morphological channel adjustments occurred mainly shortly after dam removals, but with differences among the one removed instantaneously, that was immediate, whereas that conducted by stages took longer. Degradational processes were observed upstream of both dams (up to 1.2 m and 4 m in the River Urumea and River Leitzaran, respectively), but also aggradational processes (pool filling), upstream of Inturia Dam (2.85 m at least). Less evident aggradational processes were observed downstream of the dams (up to 0.37 m and 0.50 m in the River Urumea and River Leitzaran, respectively). Flood events, especially a 100 year flood registered during the monitoring period of Mendaraz Dam removal, reactivated geomorphological processes as incision and bank erosion, whereas longitudinal profile recovery, grain‐size sorting and upstream erosion took longer. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
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