Gerardo Benito Fernández

Research professor

benito@mncn.csic.es

0000-0003-0724-1790

Gerardo Benito Fernández

climate change; fluvial geomorphology; paleoflood hydrology; paleohydrology; sediment transport

I am a research professor at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), where I have worked since 1992. PhD in Geology (University of Zaragoza). Postdoctoral research (University of Arizona).

My research focuses on past and present floods, combining Quaternary geology, paleohidrology, and fluvial geomorphology to understand better flood hazards in the context of climate and environmental change.

I pioneered paleoflood hydrology studies in Europe, and have led major international research projects spanning Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Siberia, and Patagonia -including the reconstruction of the largest flood ever recorded in the Southern hemisphere.

I played an active role in shaping international climate policy as a Lead author on two IPCC reports. I have also served as Chair of the Global Paleohydrology Commission of the International Association for Quaternary Studies (INQUA).

Beyond research, I advise the Water General Directorate of the Spanish Ministry for Ecological Transition on flooding and climate change, and sit on the Expert panel on resilience to flooding and droughts of the State Pact on the Climate Emergency.

2025

  • Ballesteros-Cánovas JA, Twose IM, Muñoz-Torrero A, Robredo Sánchez JC, Grodek T, López-Moreno I, Bartolomé M, Benito G. 2025. Rockfall-induced debris flow event in the Pyrenees: The case of Pineta valley of September 2022. Catena 253, 108876. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2025.108876

  • Grodek T, Benito G. 2025. Reevaluating Flood Protection: Disaster Risk Reduction for Urbanized Alluvial Fans. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences. Preprint 28p. https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2024-171

  • Harrison S, Macklin MG, Toonen WHJ, Benito G, Cohen KM. 2025. Robust climate attribution of modern floods needs palaeoflood science. Climatic Change 178(4), 71. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-025-03904-9

  • Marín-Martín M, Tejedor E, Benito G, Saz MA, Barriendos M, Martínez del Castillo E, Esper J, de Luis M. 2025. A five-century tree-ring record from Spain reveals recent intensification of western Mediterranean hydroclimatic extremes. Climate of the Past 21 Issue 11, CP25, 1-28. https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2530

2024

  • Giménez R, Moreno A, Luetscher M, Ezquerro L, Delgado-Huertas A, Benito G, Bartolomé M. 2024. Mitigating flood risk and environmental change in show caves: Key challenges in the management of the Las Güixas cave (Pyrenees, Spain). Journal of Environmental Management 370, Article 122285. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.122285

  • Grodek T, Cloete G, Vázquez-Tarrío D, Benito G. 2024. The hydromorphological effects of dams in an extreme desert environment - The Fish River Canyon, Namibia, Geomorphology 453, 109124. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2024.109124

  • Rabanaque MP, Martínez-Fernández V, Calle M, Castillo O, Benito G. 2024. Spatio-temporal analysis of geomorphic recovery along an altered ephemeral stream using automated image processing. Geomorphology 450: 109069. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2024.109069

  • Tejedor E, Benito G, Serrano-Notivoli R, González-Rouco F, Esper J, Büntgen U. 2024. Recent heatwaves as a prelude to climate extremes in the western Mediterranean región. npj Climate and Atmospheric Science. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-024-00771-6

2023

  • Benito G, Greenbaum N, Medialdea A, Calle M, Sánchez-Moya Y, Machado M, Ballesteros-Cánovas JA, Corella JP. 2023. Late Pleistocene–Holocene multi-decadal patterns of extreme floods in NW Iberia: The Duero River palaeoflood record. Quaternary Science Reviews, Volume 321, 108356. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2023.108356

  • Vázquez-Tarrío D, Ruiz-Villanueva V, Garrote J, Benito G, Calle M, Lucía A, Díez-Herrero A. 2023. Effects of sediment transport on flood hazards: Lessons learned and remaining challenges. Geomorphology 446. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2023.108976

2022

  • Baker VR, Benito G, et al. 2022. Fluvial palaeohydrology in the 21st century and beyond. Earth Surf. Processes Landforms 47, 58-81. https://doi-org/10.1002/esp.5275

  • Benito G, Castillo O, Ballesteros-Cánovas JA, Machado M, Barriendos M. 2021. Enhanced flood hazard assessment beyond decadal climate cycles based on centennial historical data (Duero basin, Spain). Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 25, 6107-6132. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-6107-2021

  • Cloete G, Benito G, Grodek T, Porat N, Hoffman J, Enzel Y. 2022. Palaeoflood records to assist in design of civil infrastructure in ephemeral rivers with scarce hydrological data: Ugab River, Namibia. Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies 44, Article number 101263. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2022.101263

  • Rabanaque MP, Martínez-Fernández V, Calle M, Benito G. 2022. Basin-wide hydromorphological analysis of ephemeral streams using machine learning algorithms‡. Earth Surf. Processes Landforms 47, 328-344. https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.5250

2019

  • Bartolomé M, Sancho C, Benito G, Medialdea A, Calle M, Moreno A, Leunda M, Luetscher M, Muñoz A, Bastida J, Cheng H, Edwards RL. 2021. Effects of glaciation on karst hydrology and sedimentology during the Last Glacial Cycle: The case of Granito cave, Central Pyrenees (Spain). CATENA 206, 105252. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2021.105252

  • Benito G, Thorndycraft VR, Medialdea A, Machado M, et al. 2021. Declining discharge of glacier outburst floods through the Holocene in central Patagonia. Quaternary Science Reviews 256, 106810. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2021.106810

  • Corella JP, Benito G, Monteoliva AP, Sigro J, Calle M, Valero-Garcés BL, Stefanova V, Rico E, Favre A-C, Wilhelm B. 2021. A 1400-years flood frequency reconstruction for the Basque country (N Spain): Integrating geological, historical and instrumental datasets. Quaternary Science Reviews 262, 106963. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2021.106963

  • Santos-González J, Gómez-Villar A, González-Gutiérrez RB, Corella JP, Benito G, Redondo-Vega JM, Melón-Nava A, Valero-Garcés B. 2021. Geomorphological impact, hydraulics and watershed- lake connectivity during extreme floods in mountain areas: The 1959 Vega de Tera dam failure, NW Spain. Geomorphology 375, 107531. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2020.107531

  • Zituni R, Greenbaum N, Porat N, Benito G. 2021. Magnitude, frequency and hazard assessment of the largest floods in steep, mountainous bedrock channels of the Southern Judean Desert, Israel. Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies 37, 100886. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2021.100886

  • Beneyto C, Aranda JA, Benito G, Francés F. 2020. New Approach to Estimate Extreme Flooding Using Continuous Synthetic Simulation Supported by Regional Precipitation and Non-Systematic Flood Data. Water (Switzerland) 12, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.3390/w12113174

  • Benito G, Sánchez-Moya Y, Medialdea A, Barriendos M, Calle M, Rico M, Sopeña A, Machado M. 2020. Extreme Floods in Small Mediterranean Catchments: Long-Term Response to Climate Variability and Change. Water, 12, 1008.

  • Benito G, Thorndycraft VR. 2020. Catastrophic glacial-lake outburst flooding of the Patagonian Ice Sheet. Earth-Science Reviews 200, 102996. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2019.102996

  • Blöschl G, Kiss A, Viglione A, Barriendos M, Böhm O, Brázdil R, Coeur D, Demarée G, Llasat MC, Macdonald N, Retsö D, Roald L, Schmocker-Fackel P, Amorim I, Bělínová M, Benito G, ..., Wetter O. 2020. Current European flood-rich period exceptional compared with past 500 years. Nature 583,560-566. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2478-3

  • Calle M, Calle J, Alho P, Benito G. 2020. Inferring sediment transfers and functional connectivity of rivers from repeat topographic surveys. Earth Surf. Process. Landforms, 45: 681– 693. https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.4765

  • Greenbaum N, Schwartz U, Carling P, Bergman N, Mushkin A, Zeituni R, Halevi R, Benito G, Porat N. 2020. Frequency of boulders transport during large floods in hyperarid areas using paleoflood analysis – An example from the Negev Desert, Israel. Earth-Science Reviews 202, 103086. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2020.103086

  • Grodek T, Morin E, Helman D, Lensky I, Dahan O, Seely M, Benito G, Enzel Y. 2020. Eco-hydrology and geomorphology of the largest floods along the hyperarid Kuiseb River, Namibia. Journal of Hydrology 582, 124450. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2019.124450

  • Rodríguez-Lloveras X, Machado M, Sánchez-Moya Y, Calle M, Medialdea A, Sopeña A, Benito G. 2020. Impacts of sediment connectivity on Holocene alluvial records across a Mediterranean basin (Guadalentín River, SE-Spain). CATENA 187, 104321, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2019.104321

  • Ballesteros-Cánovas JA, Stoffel M, Benito G, Rohrer M, Barriopedro D, García-Herrera R, Beniston M, Brönnimann S. 2019. On the extraordinary winter flood episode over the North Atlantic Basin in 1936. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1436(1), 206-216. https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.13911

  • Corella JP, Benito G, Wilhelm B, Montoya E, Rull V, Vegas T, Valero-Garcés BL. 2019. A millennium-long perspective of flood-related seasonal sediment yield in Mediterranean watersheds. Global and Planetary Change 177, 127–140. 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2019.03.016

  • Thorndycraft VR, Bendle J, Benito G, Davies B, Sancho C, Palmer A, Fabel D, Medealdea A, Martin JRV. 2019. Glacial lake evolution and Atlantic-Pacific drainage reversals during deglaciation of the Patagonian Ice Sheet. Quaternary Science Reviews 203, 102-127, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.10.036

  • Thorndycraft VR, Bendle J, Matthews IP, Palmer A, Benito G, Davies BJ, Sancho C, Pike JH, Martin JRV, Fabel D, Medealdea A. 2019. Reply to comments by Bourgois et al. (2019) on: “Glacial lake evolution and Atlantic-Pacific drainage reversals during deglaciation of the Patagonia Ice Sheet”. Quaternary Science Reviews 213, 171-177

  • Wilhelm B, Ballesteros JA, Macdonald N, Toonen WHJ, Baker VR, Barriendos M, Benito G, Brauer A, Corella JP, Denniston R, Glasser R, Ionita M, Kahle M, Liu T, Luestscher M, Mudelsee M, Munoz S, Shulte L, St. George S, Stofell M, Wetter O. 2019. Interpreting historical, botanical, and geological evidence to aid preparations for future floods. WIREs Water 2019, 6: null. https://doi.org/10.1002/wat2.1318

  • Calle M, Alho P, Benito G. 2018. Monitoring ephemeral river changes during floods with SfM photogrammetry. Journal of Iberian Geology, Journal of Iberian Geology 44(3), pp. 355-373. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41513-018-0078-y

  • Cloete GC, Benito G, Grodek T, Porat N, Enzel Y. 2018 Analyses of the magnitude and frequency of a 400-year flood record in the Fish River Basin, Namibia. Geomorphology, Geomorphology 320 1–17.

  • Lotsari E, Calle M, Benito G, Kukko A, Kaartinen H, Hyyppä J, Hyyppä H, Alho P. 2018. Topographical change caused by moderate and small floods in a gravel bed ephemeral river - depth-averaged morphodynamic simulation approach. Earth Surface Dynamics 6, 163-185, 2018. https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-6-163-2018

  • Oliva M, Ruiz-Fernández J, Barriendos M, Benito G, Cuadrat JM, Domínguez-Castro F, García-Ruiz JM, Giralt S, Gómez-Ortiz A, Hernández A, López-Costas O, López-Moreno JI, López-Sáez JA, Martínez-Cortizas A, Moreno A, Prohom M, Saz MA, Serrano E, Tejedor E, Trigo R, Valero-Garcés B, Vicente-Serrano SM. 2018. The Little Ice Age in Iberian mountains. Earth-Science Reviews 177, 175-208

  • Calle M, Alho P, Benito G. 2017. Channel dynamics and geomorphic resilience in an ephemeral Mediterranean river affected by gravel mining. Geomorphology 285, 333–346

  • Euler T, Herget J, Schlömer O, Benito G. 2017. Hydromorphological processes at submerged solitary boulder obstacles in streams. Catena 157, 250–267.

  • Machado MJ, Medialdea A, Calle M, Rico MT, Sánchez-Moya Y, Sopeña A, Benito G. 2017. Historical palaeohydrology and landscape resilience of a Mediterranean rambla (Castellón, NE Spain): Floods and people. Quaternary Science Reviews 171,182-198. https://doir-org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2017.07.014

  • Rodríguez‐Lloveras X, Corella JP, Benito G. 2017. Modelling the hydro‐sedimentary dynamics of a Mediterranean semiarid ungauged watershed beyond the instrumental period. Land Degradation & Development 28, 1506–1518. https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.267

  • Corella JP, Valero-Garcés BL, Vicente- Serrano SM, Brauer A, Benito G. 2016. Three millennia of heavy rainfalls in Western Mediterranean: frequency, seasonality and atmospheric drivers. Sci. Rep. 6, 38206. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep38206

  • Rodriguez-Lloveras X, Buytaert W, Benito G. 2016. Land use can offset climate change induced increases in erosion in Mediterranean watersheds, Catena 143, 244-255. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2016.04.012

  • Sancho C, Calle M, Peña-Monné JL, Duval M, Oliva-Urcia B, Pueyo EL, Benito G, Moreno A. 2016. Dating the Earliest Pleistocene alluvial terrace of the Alcanadre River (Ebro Basin, NE Spain): Insights into the landscape evolution and involved processes, Quaternary International 407 (2016) 86-95. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2015.10.050

2021

2020

2018

2017

2016

Publications (last 10 years)