Geological and environmental implications of the evaporite karst in Spain

Evaporite sinkholes of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region (NE Italy)

“…The genesis and evolution of these depressions is caused by the action of the dissolution of soluble rocks or deposits in addition to internal erosion and/or gravitational processes (Gutiérrez, 2016;Gutiérrez, Guerrero, & Lucha, 2008;Gutiérrez, Parise, De Waele, & Jourde, 2014;Parise, 2015;Waltham, Bell, & Culshaw, 2005). Sinkholes affect several European countries such as Spain (Galve et al, 2009a;Gutiérrez, Calaforra, et al, 2008), England (Cooper, Farrant, & Price, 2011), Albania (Parise, Qiriazi, & Sala, 2004) and Italy (Caramanna, Ciotoli, & Nisio, 2008;Margiotta, Negri, Parise, & Quarta, 2016). Friuli Venezia Giulia (FVG) is one of the most impacted regions in Italy (Burelli, Cleva, Cucchi, & Oberti Di Valnera, 2004;Calligaris, Zini, Cucchi, & Stefanelli, 2010;Cucchi & Piano, 2002;De Waele et al, 2017;Nisio, Caramanna, & Ciotoli, 2007;Zini et al, 2015a).…”

6.35 Dealing with Gypsum Karst Problems: Hazards, Environmental Issues, and Planning

“…Nearby, numerous buildings including historical monuments in the small town of Calatayud (Figures 2 and 3) have been severely affected by subsidence (Gutiérrez and Cooper, 2002). Here, in 2003, a collapse sinkhole occurred causing the demolition of a five-storey building and direct losses of around 5 million euros (Gutiérrez et al, 2008c). Parts of the Madrid metropolitan area are also underlain by gypsiferous and other evaporitic rocks causing stability problems in buildings and infrastructure (Gutiérrez et al, 2008c).…”

“…The city of Zaragoza in Spain has a population of about 700,000 people, making it one of the largest urban areas affected by gypsum and other evaporite dissolution problems (Gutiérrez et al, 2007(Gutiérrez et al, , 2008cGalve et al, 2009a). Sinkholes here are a major constraint on development; they have collapsed buildings, affected roads, and caused the derailment of a train.…”

Water seepage beneath dams on soluble evaporite deposits: a laboratory and field study (Caspe Dam, Spain)

“…Cooper and Calow (1998), Ford and Williams (1989) and Milanovic (2004) cite numerous examples, including a dozen cases in the USA (Johnson 2008) where the damage has led to the abandonment of the dam Problems have also been reported with the Kamskaya Dam in Russia (Gorbunova et al 1991) the Mosul Dam in Iraq (Guzina et al 1991) and the Huoshipo Dam in China (Lu and Cooper 1997) Spain has the highest proportion of gypsiferous outcrops in the world. Broadly gypsiferous geological formations occupy 21% of the surface area while some 9% is associated with massive evaporitic formations (Rios 1963;Riba and Macau 1962;Gutierrez etal 2004) Dissolution has caused numerous failures in civil engineering infrastructure such as leakage from dams, channels and tunnels as well as subsidence in linear works including roads and railways (Gutierrez et al 2008), etc. This has resulted in significant repair and maintenance work, and led to the organization in 1962 of the first world congress on Public Works Constructed Over Gypsum Numerous papers were presented describing research related to hydraulic works eg Llamas (1962Llamas ( 1965 and Saenz and Valdes(1952) , ^ , ^ In Spain, many dams constructed over strata containing gypsum or other evaporitic rocks have experienced leakage, including Caspe (Araoz Sanchez-Albornoz 1992; Morlans et al 2005), AUoz (Saenz 1962, Fernandez et al 2001) the dams of Guadalhorce, Argos, Beninar and Estremera (Llamas 1965) and the Loteta dam which is still under construction (Gomez et al 2002) Many other dam sites were rejected at the feasibility stage due to the presence of these gypsiferous formations (Mancebo 2008) In addition there have been fi-equent repairs of damage caused by leakage in canals (Jimenez 1949Benito and Gutierrez 1987Duran 1984 Karst and gypsum dissolution processes have been considered by White 1988, Ford andWilhams (1989), Calaforra (1998), Klimchouk et al (2000), ...…”