Reconstructing the history of sediment accumulation in the Yesa reservoir: An approach for management of mountain reservoirs

Abstract

The Aragón River was impounded at the foothills of the Pyrenean Internal Depression in 1959; since then sediments accumulations have decreased the reservoir storage capacity. In this work, we interpreted the history of the sediment accumulation in the Yesa reservoir based on the detailed study of two sediment cores collected at the more stable area in the reservoir. The identification of main sedimentological facies together with the analysis of the grain size distribution of the materials accumulated at the bottom of the reservoir was used for interpretations of the sedimentary dynamics. These data were compared with records of known flood events to derive a tentative chronology of the infilling process by assigning main changes observed in the facies types and sediment components to specific years. In addition to grain size data of sediments accumulated in the river channels, suspended sediments from representative sites of the Aragón Basin to the Yesa reservoir were collected during high and low waters and analysed. Grain size data and sediment composition (organic matter, carbonates) were used to assess the characteristics and the pattern of the sediment transport through the Aragón River network and the role played by lithology and land use. The results provide information on the sediment transport. This approach can be used to assess the siltation processes in Mediterranean mountain reservoirs to improve the management of water bodies by preventing their infilling. © 2009 Copyright by the North American Lake Management Society.