Climate change impact and anthropogenic effects in land subsidence of Querétaro valley, Mexico

Recently, long drought periods and the requirements of large water amounts for urban and agricultural uses have occasioned a high groundwater overexploitation, that is closely related to land subsidence in the Queretaro Metropolitan Zone (QMZ). The urbanized areas around QMZ have experienced a rapid growing period. In this paper we present the results of the spatial precipitation distribution in the QMZ and its potential influence on the processes of land subsidence. Some possible areas were identified where large rainfalls are concentrated. The spatial distribution analysis of precipitation showed that the highest rainfall is localized in the northwest zone of QMZ. The results shows the importance that climate changes can play and the role of anthropogenic conditions in highly urbanized zones for a better understanding of the land subsidence phenomena at the scale of hydrological basins and micro-basins.