Hydrological dynamics of a mediterranean catchment in a global change context (Romanyac catchment, Cap de Creus, Girona, Spain)

The Soil Science Unit GRCT48 from the University of Girona is conducting an integrated study of hydrological response, soil erosion and soil degradation processes in the Cap de Creus Peninsula (NE Spain), where land abandonment has been the outstanding characteristic over the last decades. the approach is based on the complementary use of plot and catchment scales to assess the effect of land cover and land use change on physical, chemical and biological parameters of soil quality and on rainfall-runoff-erosion relationships. Along the study period, observed rainfall-runoff response at the plot scale was highly variable among sites but also for a given environment, depending on antecedent wetness conditions and rainfall characteristics. Soil loss associated to rainfall-runoff events showed very large variations among sites, and also for a given site, between the different rainfall events. At the catchment scale, preliminary results showed that catchment scale runoff represented around 17% of the annual rainfall (507 mm) and that evapotranspiration was consequently the more relevant component of the water balance. (Author) 6 refs.