The Mediterranean Coast of Andalusia (Spain): Medium-Term Evolution and Impacts of Coastal Structures

Rosa Molina, Giorgio Anfuso, Giorgio Manno and F. Javier Gracia Prieto
Additional contact information
Rosa Molina: Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Marine and Environmental Sciences, University of Cádiz, Polígono del Río San Pedro s/n, 11510 Puerto Real, Spain
Giorgio Anfuso: Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Marine and Environmental Sciences, University of Cádiz, Polígono del Río San Pedro s/n, 11510 Puerto Real, Spain
Giorgio Manno: Department of Engineering, University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, Bd. 8, 90128 Palermo, Italy
F. Javier Gracia Prieto: Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Marine and Environmental Sciences, University of Cádiz, Polígono del Río San Pedro s/n, 11510 Puerto Real, Spain

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 13, 1-24

Abstract: This paper shows coastal evolution along the Andalusia Region (Spain) and the impacts on it of coastal structures. The study area was divided into 47 units to calculate the erosion/accretion/stability (or evolution) rates by using the DSAS extension of ArcGIS software. Evolution rates were divided into different classes from “Very high accretion” to “Very high erosion”. As a result, 9 units recorded accretion, 19 stability and 19 erosion. Further, 17 units presented a positive balance and 28 units a negative one, showing a negative net balance of 29,738.4 m 2 /year corresponding to the loss of 1784.30 km 2 of beach surface in the 1956–2016 period. The distribution of evolution areas along the studied coast was carried out by means of the “R” project for statistical computing. The analysis evidenced the impact of rigid structures: accretion was essentially observed up-drift of ports and groins and in correspondence of protection structures, especially of breakwaters. Erosion classes were observed down-drift of ports and groins and in correspondence of revetments/seawalls, and at largest river deltas, and “stability” was observed at pocket beaches and coastal areas locally stabilized by protection structures. Last, results were used to determine the distribution of swash- and drift-aligned coastal sectors and main direction of sedimentary transport.

Keywords: coastal evolution; DSAS; groin; port; pocket beach; river delta (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/13/3539/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/13/3539/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:13:p:3539-:d:243459

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().