Hydraulic Anatomy of Guadiana Springs. Part II. Hydropower Genesis
2022
Florín Beltrán, Máximo | Doncel Fuentes, Pablo
Guadiana Springs are an exceptional landmark where the surplus water of the largest Spanish aquifer used to emerge, setting an oasis that powered up to sixteen watermills located along forty kilometres of the river’s upper reach. Such industrial hub lasted until the second half of the last century, when drainage works, and aquifer overdraft brought along a distressing scorched land where water had been dominant for centuries. As this unique heritage is about to fade away without knowing its genesis, this independent PhD research attempts to shed light on its likely origins, by assessing the most probable driving forces that promoted its uprising under different standpoints. The logical methodology commences by outlining the study case on the earliest known historic and archaeological references, follows an historiographical assessment on those key factors influencing the expansion of hydraulic works, inferring a bidimensional technological diffusion pattern experimented over the Mediterranean and Middle East regions. It focuses on irrigation and hydropower riverside assets, to compile real examples of Iberian riverine hydraulic works referenced during the thrilling Andalusian period. To conclude, a relationship between work typology and likely construction period is established, distinguishing those watermills that would have disrupted the due operation of the system.
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