Biggest lakes in Spain
- Curiously, the biggest lake in Spain , Sanabria in Zamora is fed by river Tera, while the second biggest, Banyoles, is fed by the river Ter.
|
Province |
Size (ha) |
Max Depth (metres) |
Type |
Sanabria |
Zamora |
370 ha |
51 |
Glacial marginal |
Lago Banyoles (Estany de Banyoles) |
Gerona |
107 ha |
46.4 |
Karst |
 Lake Sanabria
- There are some 150,000 wetlands in Spain , most of which are small or tiny. They cover 114,000 h of the 280,000 ha left in 1800. Wetlands probably once covered 500,000 ha - 1% of Spanish territory.
- The largest inland lagoon is Gallocanta in Zaragoza with 1,400 ha followed by Fuentedepiedra in Malaga with 1,300 ha. Both are shallow saltwater lagoons.
- There are 444 mountain lakes and 82 karst lakes, 14% and 49%, respectively are considered highly degraded. There are 637 inland freshwater wetlands.
- Between 57% and 60% of Spanish wetlands have been lost (see table below) with most of this fall taking place between 1965 and 1990. An example is the historical reduction of the Guadalquivir Swamps from 200,000 ha to a still considerable 36,000 ha..
- Full list of Ramsar sites in Spain here below. (increased to 63 as of 11 Nov 2005). The surface area of Ramsar sites in Spain has risen from 173,124 hectares to 283,873.
2006 TVE news item on state of Spanish wetlands (1m 43s). Click on play. More Spain nature videos
Estimated past and current surface area of Spanish wetlands
-
Wetland type |
Past surface (ha) |
Current surface (ha) |
Current surface / Past surface (%) |
Wetland loss (%) |
Inland |
40,600 |
16,421 |
40.4 |
59.6 |
Mountain |
2,314 |
2,386 |
103.1 |
- |
Karstic |
874 |
784 |
89.7 |
10.3 |
Inland freshwater |
14,802 |
4,805 |
32.5 |
67.5 |
Inland saline |
6,743 |
5,212 |
77.3 |
22.7 |
Floodplain |
15,867 |
3,234 |
20.4 |
79.6 |
Coastal |
239,628 |
104,116 |
43.4 |
56.6 |
Total |
280,228 |
120,537 |
43% |
57% |
(based on Spanish Ramsar National Report 1998 and Hecker & Tomàs Vives 1995. From this excellent review of Spanish wetlands):
External links
List of Ramsar sites in Spain
- Parque Nacional de Doñana
- Las Tablas de Daimiel
- Laguna de Fuente de Piedra
- Lagunas de Cádiz (Laguna de Medina y Laguna Salada)
- Lagunas del sur de Córdoba (Zóñar, Rincón y Amarga)
- Marismas del Odiel
- Salinas del Cabo de Gata
- S'Albufera de Mallorca
- Laguna de la Vega (o del Pueblo )
- Lagunas de Villafáfila
- Complejo intermareal Umia-Grove
- Rias de Ortigueira y Ladrido
- Albufera de Valencia
- Pantano de El Hondo
- Lagunas de la Mata y Torrevieja
- Salinas de Santa Pola
- Prat de Cabanes - Torreblanca
- Aiguamolls de l'Empordà
- Delta del Ebro
- Laguna de Manjavacas
- Lagunas de Alcázar de San Juan
- Laguna del Prado
- Embalse de Orellana
- Complejo de Corrubedo
- Laguna y arenal de Valdoviño
- Ria de Mundaka-Guernika
- Salinas de Ibiza y Formentera
- Laguna de Chiprana
- Laguna de Gallocanta
- Embalses de Cordobilla y Malpasillo
- Albufera de Adra
- Ría del Eo
- Mar Menor
- Marismas de Santoña
- Marjal de Pego-Oliva
- Embalse de las Cañas
- Laguna de Pitillas
- Lagunas de Laguardia (Carralogroño, Carravalseca, Prao de la Paul y Musco)
- Colas del Embalse de Ullibarri
- Complejo lagunar de La Albuera
- Lago de Banyoles
- Lago de Caicedo-Yuso y Salinas de Añana
- Laguna de El Hito
- Laguna de la Nava de Fuentes
- Lagunas de puebla de Beleña
- Saladar de Jandía
- Salburua
- Txingudi
- Bahía de Cádiz
- 14 news site added Nov. 2005. Parque Nacional de Aigües Tortes i Estany de Sant Maurici ( Cataluña)
- Humedales de la Sierra de Urbión (La Rioja)
- Lagunas de Peñalara (Madrid)
- Paraje Natural Brazo del Este (Sevilla)
- Lagunas de Palos y Las Madres (Huelva)
- Punta Entinas-Sabinar (Almería)
- Complejo Endorréico de Espera (Cádiz)
- Reserva Natural Laguna del Conde o Salobral (Córdoba)
- Reserva Natural Laguna de Tíscar (Córdoba)
- Reserva Natural de los Jarales (Córdoba)
- Turberas de Padul (Granada)
- Reserva Natural Laguna Honda (Jaén)
- Reserva Natural Laguna del Chinche (Jaén)
- Reserva Natural Lagunas del Campillo (Jaén)
lakes in Iberia, Iberian lakes, bigest lake in Iberia, largest lake in Catalonia, largest lake in Iberian Peninsula, wetands in Iberia, Iberian wetands , bigest wetand in Iberia, largest wetand in Catalonia, largest wetands in Iberian Peninsula, |