At roughly 325 square kilometers, the Ebro Delta on the northeastern coast of Spain is one of the largest wetlands along the Mediterranean Sea coast.
At roughly 325 square kilometers, the Ebro Delta on the northeastern coast of Spain is one of the largest wetlands along the Mediterranean Sea coast. It is an important habitat for wildlife, including flamingos and birds using the wetlands as a stopover on migratory journeys. The site in southern Catalonia has been designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
The 50-kilometer-long coastline features two sand spits: El Fangar on the north shore and La Banya on the south. These appendages are the remnants of the river's previous deltas, which were reworked when the river changed course over the past few thousand years.
The delta, which is home to 62,000 people, has also been greatly modified by human use. In the past 150 years, wetlands have been converted into fields of rice, which now cover up to 80 percent of the delta. To supply water for irrigation and to generate hydroelectric power, more than 187 dams have been built on Ebro River and its tributaries—development that trapped most of the sediment supply in Spain’s largest river in reservoirs and behind dams. Erosion and land subsidence followed downstream.
Read more at NASA Earth Observatory
Photo Credit: Nereida79 via Pixabay
