The effects of the anthropic actions on the sandy beaches of Guardamar del Segura, Spain

There are many activities and uses in the coastal environment, which has historically attracted the humans. This attraction has led to many anthropic actions that have generated imbalances, more important as the human pressure increases. This research focuses on the effects of these pressures along...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Science of the total environment 2017-12, Vol.601-602, p.1364-1377
Main Authors: Pagán, J.I., López, I., Aragonés, L., Garcia-Barba, J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anthropic
Beach erosion
GIS
Sand
Shoreline evolution
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Summary:There are many activities and uses in the coastal environment, which has historically attracted the humans. This attraction has led to many anthropic actions that have generated imbalances, more important as the human pressure increases. This research focuses on the effects of these pressures along of 11km of the coastline of Guardamar del Segura, a high-value environmental area where is the Segura River mouth and one of the last dune systems of the southeast of Spain. The historic evolution of the shoreline position has been analysed using 60years of aerial images from 1950s to 2014, the seabed depth changes, the maritime climate, the distribution of the sediment grain size and the anthropic actions such as urban development or the channelling of the river. All data were integrated and processed using a Geographic Information System (GIS). The results show that the lack of sediment supply by Segura River and the cut-off in the longshore transport due to the breakwaters and others anthropic actions has led into an increase in the beaches erosion rates, with a loss of >3.2millionm3 of sand in the last 58years (≈55,200m3/year). The conclusions of this research could be useful to the coastal managers at the moment of making the decisions of action and/or conservation on a coastal system to achieve positive results in the medium and long term. [Display omitted] •Evaluation of the shoreline erosion due in an anthropized environment.•Study of the shoreline position and human actions using aerial images since 1956.•The erosion rates have increased since the channelization of Segura River.•The main cause of the shoreline retreat is the lack of sediment supply.•The houses of Babilonia beach and the dunes act as a dike avoiding inland flooding.
ISSN:0048-9697
1879-1026
DOI:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.05.272