Research staff from the Limnology group of the Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology (ICBiBE), located in the scientific-academic area of the Science Park of the University of Valencia, have extracted sediments from different parts of the Albufera de Valencia for chemical analysis. They have found that the approximately six centimetres added after the DANA of 29 October are equivalent to thirty years of sedimentation at the usual rate of sedimentation of the lake
"This data highlights the great magnitude of the flood that occurred as a result of the DANA in October 2024," explains Juan Soria, professor of UV ecology, who leads the team with researchers Juan Víctor Moliner and Noelia Campillo. With regard to other floods, Soria explains that they are aware of the fact that in the Mar Menor (Murcia), in 2016, the accumulated thickness was 2 centimeters in the affected areas near the exits of the ravines, as is the case of the Rambla del Poyo in the Albufera. It also cites the case of the river Besòs, whose deposition in a flood is 0.5 to 2 millimetres, which gives an idea of the magnitude of the flood of 29 October.
According to Soria, "from the surface of the lake (23 km 2) and an average of three centimetres of sedimentation, the volume of sediment accumulated in the DANA is estimated at 690,000 cubic metres, some 700,000 tonnes, the equivalent of about 46,000 trucks of rubble. The contributions of suspended matter occurred in the four days that the waters arrived at the Albufera, and a part remained in the rice paddies, and the other settled in the same lake, where this process takes place for one day".
The objective of this sediment extraction in the Albufera is to observe what has been the amount and composition of the material dragged and deposited in the lagoon as a result of the DANA
The objective of this sediment extraction in the Albufera is to observe the amount and composition of the material dragged and deposited in the lagoon as a result of the aforementioned DANA. Samples were taken at four sampling points, with three replicates each and twelve in total: north, centre, west and south of the Albufera.
"The observation of the extractions shows that the settled materials correspond to a more clayey reddish colour in the north and centre, with a thickness of about 6 cm, and more similar to the cream colour in the west and south, where the thickness of the deposited materials is around 2-3 cm", explains Juan Soria.
These samples will soon be studied in terms of their composition to know their differences with respect to the layer of sediment below that deposited by the flood and analyse which chemical components predominate, and what impact they may have on the underlying flora and fauna, as well as the existing one in the park
These samples will soon be studied in terms of their composition to know their differences with respect to the layer of sediment below that deposited by the flood and analyse which chemical components predominate, and what impact they may have on the underlying flora and fauna, as well as the existing one in the park. It should be remembered that the flood caused by the Rambla del Poyo swept away much of the north of the district of l'Horta Sud, and the waters were mixed with all kinds of natural and man-made compounds and elements, which ended up being deposited in the Albufera, in which the mentioned Rambla ends.
Source: UV News