Environmental and constructive characteristics of drainage galleries of subalveal waters in semi-arid environments of south-eastern Spain and Tunisia
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Abstract
Draining galleries are water collection systems that occurs frequently in various geomorphic contexts of semi-arid environments. In this article, we study those that take advantage of subalveal waters by means of different construction techniques, mainly “cimbras” and “cimbra-zanjas”. A comparison has been made between the Tunisian galleries and those of the Spanish SE that have these two characteristics: the exploitation of subsubalveal waters and surface detritic aquifers, and rainfall characteristics of semi-arid climates, specifically annual total rainfall between 300 and 400 mm. The work analyzes the environmental contexts of the selected galleries, especially geology, geomorphology, rainfall torrentiality and hydrology, as well as the constructive, functional characteristics and conservation status of the galleries. The results of the comparative analysis show that there are no significant differences between the galleries of both territories, neither in the necessary environmental conditions, nor in the constructive and functional characteristics adopted.