Spain's greatest and most recent mine disaster

Guerrero, Flor; Lozano, Macarena; Rueda‐Cantuche, José M.

doi:10.1111/j.1467-7717.2007.01025.x

Cited by 12 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…In addition to landslide processes, mining can produce debris flows and muddy floodwaters from tailings failures, which results in floods ( Fig. 7) that are commonly composed of water with high sediment concentrations (Guerrero et al, 2008;Rico et al, 2008a). These events generally occur in active mines and only rarely occur in abandoned ponds (Rico et al, 2008a, b).…”

Section: Figmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human topographic signatures and derived geomorphic processes across landscapes

2016

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The Earth's surface morphology, in an abiotic context, is a consequence of major forcings such as tectonic uplift, erosion, sediment transport, and climate. Recently, however, it has become essential for the geomorphological community to also take into account biota as a geomorphological agent that has a role in shaping the landscape, even if at a different scale and magnitude from that of geology. Although the modem literature is flourishing on the impacts of vegetation on geomorphic processes, the study of anthropogenic pressures on geomorphology is still in its early stages. Topography emerges as a result of natural driving forces, but some human activities (such as mining, agricultural practices and the construction of road networks) directly or indirectly move large quantities of soil, which leave dear topographic signatures embedded on the Earth's morphology. These signatures can cause drastic changes to the geomorphological organization of the landscape, with direct consequences on Earth surface processes. This review provides an overview of the recent literature on the role of humans as a geological agent in shaping the morphology of the landscape. We explore different contexts that are significantly characterized by anthropogenic topographic signatures: landscapes affected by mining activities, road networks and agricultural practices. We underline the main characteristics of those landscapes and the implications of human impacts on Earth surface processes. The final section considers future challenges wherein we explore recent novelties and trials in the concept of anthropogenic geomorphology. Herein, we focus on the role of high-resolution topographic and remote-sensing technologies. The reconstruction or identification of artificial or anthropogenic topographies provides a mechanism for quantifying anthropogenic changes to landscape systems. This study may allow an improved understanding and targeted mitigation of the processes driving geomorphic changes during anthropogenic development and help guide future research directions for development-based watershed studies. Human society is deeply affecting the environment with consequences on the landscape. Therefore, establishing improved management measures that consider the Earth's rapidly changing systems is fundamental. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

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Section: Figmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human topographic signatures and derived geomorphic processes across landscapes

2016

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“…This disaster demonstrates how relations between different actors are activated, and how debates originate and re-signify the causes and consequences of a disaster. It also shows how unexpected relationships are generated, ones which would not be discovered in a more traditional analysis (Guerrero et al ., 2007; Sauri et al ., 2003). For example, we see the important role of pollutants, or of the aquifers, and how these non-human elements mediate and attract the attention of environmentalists and the press.…”

Section: Doñana's Environmental Disastermentioning

confidence: 99%

Disasters as Meshworks: Migratory Birds and the Enlivening of Doñana's Toxic Spill

Rodríguez‐Giralt¹,

Serrano²,

Tironi³

2014

The Sociological Review

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The aim of this article is to revisit disasters as materially enlivened events. The sociology of disasters has usually rested upon two assumptions. First, that disasters are phenomena circumscribed in time and space. They are geographically situated and time-specific, thus their effects can be controlled and compared. And second, that the main actors involved in disasters are humans and institutions, the basic units of sociological research and theory. These principles, taken together, help in converting disaster into objects for cultural inquiry, but at the expense of diluting their material surplus. Based on the work of Tim Ingold, and drawing on the case of the Aznalcóllar ecological disaster in Doñana, one of the most damaging environmental disasters in the history of Spain, we propose to define disasters as meshworks in order to fully grasp the vibrant ontology of disasters. More specifically, by focusing on the role played by migratory birds in the enacting of the disaster, we argue that disasters are dynamic realities, difficult to localize and always distributed along disparate scales and actors. Moreover, disasters have a dual reality, unfolding actually and virtually at once -and therefore comprising a form of cosmopolitics rather than conforming to classical political imaginations. Finally, our larger point is to take disasters as opportunities to rethink our ways of living together.

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“…Even without direct deaths, environmental damages may be extreme. For example, the April 25, 1998, collapse at the Swedish-owned pyrite mine at Aznalcó llar, Spain, caused such environmental destruction that local universities and municipalities used a SWOT approach (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) to evaluate problems (Guerrero et al, 2008). Floods from tailings ponds failures are an additional problem, whether fatal or not, as there are serious long-term environmental effects.…”

Section: Mine Tailings and Tailings Dams Failuresmentioning

confidence: 99%