Los canales romanos del occidente leonésCuando el tamaño importa

Abstract

The province of León preserves a unique hydraulic infrastructure 1.200 km long used for the exploitation of auriferous deposits in Roman times. It represents the largest water works in Europe and one of the best-preserved examples of mining heritage in the Antiquity. The hydraulic network has been systematically studied since the 1970s, but a considerable progress has been made in its identification and description due to the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in the past years. Until now, channel research was based on punctual estimates and extrapolations to the entire hydraulic network. However, the integration of UAVs, improves the analysis and description of their characteristics along significant stretches and with great resolution. In this work, three sectors of channels and leats developed in different geological materials were examined. The results showed that the size of the channel box and its width are factors that do not depend exclusively on the available water resources, as previously suggested (conversely an evident fact), but also on the geological and hydraulic conditioning factors that intervene along the sectors. In addition, the detailed study allows to establish a water sheet maximum height, much lower than previously published so far in certain works.