Dendrogeomorphic analysis of flash floods in a small ungauged mountain catchment (Central Spain)

Details

Serval ID
serval:BIB_4AFD96370912
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Title
Dendrogeomorphic analysis of flash floods in a small ungauged mountain catchment (Central Spain)
Journal
Geomorphology
Author(s)
Ruiz-Villanueva Virginia, Díez-Herrero Andrés, Stoffel Markus, Bollschweiler Michelle, Bodoque José M., Ballesteros Juan A.
ISSN
0169-555X
Publication state
Published
Issued date
06/2010
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
118
Number
3-4
Pages
383-392
Language
english
Abstract
Flash floods represent one of the most significant natural hazards with serious death tolls and economic damage at a worldwide level in general and in Mediterranean mountain catchments in particular. In these environments, systematic data is often lacking and analyses have to be based on alternative approaches such as dendrogeomorphology. In this study, we focus on the identification of flash floods based on growth disturbances (GD) observed in 98 heavily affected Mediterranean pine trees (Pinus pinaster Ait.) located in or next to the torrential channel of the Pelayo River in the Spanish Central System. Flash floods are quite common in this catchment and are triggered by heavy storms, with high discharge and debris transport rates favoured by high stream gradients. Comparison of the anomalies in tree morphology and the position of the trees in the channel showed that the intensity of the disturbance clearly depends on geomorphology. The dating of past flash flood events was based on the number and intensity of GD observed in the tree-ring series and on the spatial distribution of affected trees along the torrent, thus allowing seven flash flood events during the last 50 years to be dated, namely in 1963, 1966, 1973, 1976, 1996, 2000, and 2005.
Keywords
Dendrogeomorphology, Flash flood frequency analysis, Tree-ring, Mountain catchment, Spain
Web of science
Create date
17/10/2020 12:07
Last modification date
15/12/2022 13:59
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