[Estimation of agricultural pollution in the Mar Menor by a dynamic model] | Estimación de la contaminación agrícola en el Mar Menor mediante un modelo dinámico
2005
Martínez Fernández, J. | Esteve Selma, M.A. (Universidad de Murcia (España). Facultad de Biología)
The Campo de Cartagena is an ample lowland drained by several ephemeral channels flowing into the coastal lagoon of Mar Menor, having a high ecological and tourist value. During the last decades the increment of water resources due to groundwater exploitation and the Trasvase Tajo-Segura has leaded to a considerable increment of the irrigated lands and the amount of agricultural fertilizers. In the present work a first dynamic simulation model about the irrigated lands on the Campo de Cartagena and the fertilizers transport has been built up. The effects on the natural environment and on other socio-economic uses have also been discussed. The dynamic model simulates the behaviour of the system from 1970 to nowadays and includes variables such us the area occupied by irrigated lands, the nutrients flow into the Mar Menor, the available water resources, the monthly rainfall, the fertilizers input and several leaching and retention coefficients. The results show a great increment of the fertilizers income to the Mar Menor until the current mean values of around 2000 annual tons of nitrogen and 60 annual tons of phosphorous. The final nutrients export present a clear dynamic character depending both on exogenous factors, mainly the monthly rainfall, and on endogenous factors, such us the level of fertilizers accumulated in the basin. This nutrients export has begun to generate eutrophication processes in the lagoon, being the most serious indicator the big summer proliferation of two species of jellyfish, having not only environmental effects but also socio-economic ones due to its impact on the tourist quality of the Mar Menor.
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