The Guadalfeo is a small river in the

province of Granada Granada is a province of southern Spain, in the eastern part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is bordered by the provinces of Albacete, Murcia, Almería, Jaén, Córdoba, Málaga, and the Mediterranean Sea (along the Costa Tropi ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, between the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...

mountain range and the coastal ranges of

Sierra de la Contraviesa Sierra (Spanish for "mountain range" or "mountain chain" and "saw", from Latin '' serra'') may refer to the following: Places Mountains and mountain ranges * Sierra de Juárez, a mountain range in Baja California, Mexico * Sierra de las Nieves ...

and Lújar.

Geography

It stands on the southwestern side of the Sierra Nevada. This river is formed by the merging of three rivers, the Rio Poqueira,

Río Trevélez Rio or Río is the Portuguese and Spanish word for "river". The word also exists in Italian, but is largely obsolete and used in a poetical or literary context to mean "stream". Rio, RIO or Río may also refer to: Places United States * Rio, Fl ...

, and Cádiar. The Poqueira and the Trevélez join shortly before the confluence with the Cádiar near the town of

Órgiva Órgiva () is a Spanish town municipality in comarca of Alpujarra Granadina (which is located within the larger Alpujarras region) in the province of Granada, Andalusia. It has a population of around 6,000 and lies in the Alpujarra valley between ...

. The river flows through the region of

La Alpujarra The Alpujarra (, ) is a natural region, natural and historical region in Andalusia, Andalusia, Spain, on the south slopes of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada and the adjacent valley. The average elevation is above sea level. It ex ...

for much of its course and enters the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

between

Salobreña Salobreña () is a town on the ''Costa Granadina'' in Granada, Spain. It claims a history stretching back 6,000 years. There are two main parts of Salobreña; The first is The Old Town which sits atop a rocky prominence and is a cluster of white ...

and

Motril Motril () is a town and municipality of Spain belonging to the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. The main settlement is located a few kilometers inland, separated from the Port of Motril by the Guadalfeo delta. Mo ...

after passing through a spectacular gorge between the Lújar and Chaparal mountains.

Climate

The reservoir was built in 2002. The Guadalfeo monitoring network (5 automatic weather stations) was installed on the river in 2004 to monitor the snow dynamics of the Sierra Mountain. The network is managed by the Andalusian Institute for Earth System Research. The area is worth studying as it is a narrow land that stands between the lower elevations of the Mediterranean Sea and the alpine climate.

Canalization

The Rules dam was recently built across the river near

Vélez de Benaudalla Vélez de Benaudalla is a municipality in the province of Granada, Spain. According to the 2008 census ( INE), the city has a population of 2,980 inhabitants. The municipality includes the hamlet of La Gorgoracha, about south of the municipal ce ...

at the head of the gorge, resulting in the creation of a large reservoir and the flooding of a section of the river valley. The canalised river is often dried up by the time it reaches the delta, but it supports the Motril-Salobreña

aquifer An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing material, consisting of permeability (Earth sciences), permeable or fractured rock, or of unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or silt). Aquifers vary greatly in their characteristics. The s ...

, the waters of which are used for agricultural purposes and maintain a small wetland of 13.78 ha, the Charca de Suárez. The Guadalfeo Junction is a 7-kilometer road of the

Autopista AP-7 The ''Autopista AP-7'' (also called ''Autopista del Mediterráneo'') () is a Spanish autopista (controlled-access highway). It runs along the Mediterranean coast of Spain. AP-7 has two different sections (911+96 km): * From Els Límits ( ...

with a 220-meter double viaduct (built in 2008) that crosses the Guadalfeo river.

Fauna

The river is home to numerous bird species such as

golden oriole The Eurasian golden oriole (''Oriolus oriolus''), also called the common golden oriole, is the only member of the Old World oriole family of passerine birds breeding in Northern Hemisphere temperate regions. It is a summer migrant in Europe and ...

spotted flycatcher The spotted flycatcher (''Muscicapa striata'') is a small passerine bird in the Old World flycatcher family. It breeds in most of Europe and in the Palearctic to Siberia, and is migratory, wintering in Africa and south western Asia. It is decli ...

white-throated dipper The white-throated dipper (''Cinclus cinclus''), also known as the European dipper or just dipper, is an aquatic passerine bird found in Europe, Middle East, Central Asia and the Indian Subcontinent. The species is divided into several subspecies ...

western olivaceous warbler The western olivaceous warbler (''Iduna opaca''), also known as isabelline warbler, is a "warbler", formerly placed in the Old World warblers when these were a paraphyletic wastebin taxon. It is now considered a member of the acrocephaline warble ...

Sardinian warbler The Sardinian warbler (''Curruca melanocephala'') is a common and widespread typical warbler from the Mediterranean region. Like most ''Curruca'' species, it has distinct male and female plumages. The adult male has a grey back, whitish underpart ...

, and

European turtle dove The European turtle dove (''Streptopelia turtur'') is a threatened or vulnerable member of the bird family Columbidae, the doves and pigeons. It breeds over a wide area of the south western Palearctic including north Africa but migrates to north ...

, and predators such as

short-toed snake eagle The short-toed snake eagle (''Circaetus gallicus''), also known as the short-toed eagle, is a medium-sized bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes many other diurnal raptors such as kites, buzzards and harriers. The genus n ...

and

Bonelli's eagle Bonelli's eagle (''Aquila fasciata'') is a large bird of prey. The common name of the bird commemorates the Italian ornithologist and collector Franco Andrea Bonelli. Bonelli is credited with gathering the type specimen, most likely from an expl ...

References

Rivers of Spain Rivers of Andalusia {{Spain-river-stub

Geography

Climate

Canalization

Fauna

See also

References