Salinity problems in Mediterranean and island coastal aquifers in Spain

Abstract

The Spanish coastal aquifers are often complex and bounded by or inside mountainous areas. Most of them are in Quaternary and Miocene littoral sediments or highly karstified carbonate formations, or in the case of the Canary Islands in volcanic formations. Along the Spanish Mediterranean coast and the Balearic and Canarian archipelagos coasts, 95 groundwater bodies have been identified, often including several aquifers. Some kind of marine salinization problems have been identified in 70 groundwater bodies (20 with generalized problems) but only a few aquifers have detailed, specific studies on sea water intrusion. Information on salinization is often based on scarce and occasional data.