Abstract
Spain is definitely a coastal country. The Spanish coast extends along more than 9000 Km and 22 of the 50 Spanish provinces have coastal edges over the Atlantic Ocean or the Mediterranean Sea (Fig. 1.1). In general terms it is a low altitude coast, but is too diverse displaying different littoral environments. The beaches are the most valuable environment in economic terms by the tourism, nevertheless, dunes, rias, estuaries, deltas, fan-deltas, lagoons, rocky coasts and cliffs with different geologic and dynamic controls are distributed along the coastal extension. In the last six decades the entire coast of Spain has experienced a deep human modification and is actually under an extreme urban pressure. In this chapter, the reader will find the keys to understand the importance of the Spanish Coastal Systems which are described in the subsequent chapters of this book.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Campos, M. L. (1991). Tsunami hazard on the Spanish coasts of the Iberian peninsula. Science of Tsunami Hazards, 9, 83–90.
Carter, R. W. G., Johnston, T. W., McKenna, J., & Orford, J. D. (1987). Sea-level, sediment supply and coastal changes: Examples from the coast of Ireland. Progress in Oceanography, 18, 79–101.
Curray, I. R. (1964). Transgressions and regressions. In R. L. Miller (Ed.), Papers in marine geology (pp. 175–203). New York: Macmillan.
Dabrio, C. J., Goy, J. L., & Zazo, C. (1998). The record of the tsunami produced by the 1755 Lisbon earthquake in Valdelagrana spit (Gulf of Cádiz, southern Spain). Geogaceta, 23, 31–34.
Dawson, S., & Smith, D. E. (2000). The sedimentology of Middle Holocene tsunami facies in northern Sutherland, Scotland, UK. Marine Geology, 170, 69–79.
Delgado, J., Boski, T., Nieto, J. M., Pereira, L., Moura, D., Gomes, A., Sousa, C., & GarcĂa-Tenorio, R. (2012). Sea-level rise and anthropogenic activities recorded in the late Pleistocene/ Holocene sedimentary infill of the Guadiana Estuary (SW Iberia). Quaternary Science Reviews, 33, 121–141.
Friedman, G. M., Sanders, J. E., & Kopaska-Merkel, D. C. (1992). Principles of sedimentary deposits: Stratigraphy and sedimentology (pp 717). New York: Macmillan.
GĂłmez-Pujol, L., PĂ©rez-Alberti, A., Blanco-Chao, R., Costa, S., Neves, M., & Del RĂo, L. (2014). The rock coast of continental Europe in the Atlantic. Geological Society, London, Memoirs, 40, 77–88.
Gutiérrez-Más, J. M., Juan, C., & Morales, J. A. (2009). Evidence of high-energy events in shelly layers interbedded in coastal Holocene sands in Cádiz Bay (south-west Spain). Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 34, 810–823.
Lario, J., Zazo, C., Goy, J. L., Silva, P. G., BardajĂ, T., Cabero, A., et al. (2011). Holocene palaeotsunami catalogue of SW Iberia. Quaternary International, 242, 196–209.
Lima, V. V., Miranda, J. M., Baptista, M. A., Catalao, J., González, M., Otero, L., et al. (2010). Impact of a 1755-like tsunami in Huelva, Spain. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, 10, 139–148.
Luque, L. (2008). El impacto de eventos catastrĂłficos costeros en el litoral del Golfo de Cádiz. Revista Atlántica-Mediterránea de Prehistoria y ArqueologĂa Social, 10, 131–153.
Menéndez, M., Méndez, F. J., Izaguirre, C., Luceño, A., & Losada, I. J. (2009). The influence of seasonality on estimating return values of significant wave height. Coastal Engineering, 56, 211–219.
Morales, J. A., Borrego, J., San Miguel, E. G., López-González, N., & Carro, B. (2008). Sedimentary record of recent tsunamis in the Huelva estuary (southwestern Spain). Quaternary Science Reviews, 27, 734–746.
Orton, G. J., & Reading, H. G. (1993). Variability of deltaic processes in terms of sediment supply, with particular emphasis on grain size. Sedimentology, 40, 475–512.
Pérez-Alberti, A., Pires, A., Freitas, L., & Chaminé, H. (2013). Shoreline change mapping along the coast of Galicia, Spain. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, 166, 125.
Policy Research Corporation. (2016). The economics of climate change adaptation in EU coastal areas (153Â pp). European Commission. Report for the Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries.
Rodriguez-Ramirez, A., & Camacho, C. M. (2008). Formation of chenier plain of the Doñana marshland (SW Spain): Observations and geomorphic model. Marine Geology, 254, 187–196.
Roig-Munar, F. X., RodrĂguez-Perea, A., MartĂn Prieto, J. A., Vilaplan, J. M., & Gelabert, B. (2015). MorfometrĂa de bloques de tsunami en las costas rocosas del Este de Mallorca (Islas Baleares). GeoTemas, 15, 229–232.
Ruiz, F., RodrĂguez-RamĂrez, A., Cáceres, L. M., RodrĂguez-Vidal, J., Carretero, M. I., Abad, M., et al. (2005). Evidence of high-energy events in the geological record: Mid-Holocene evolution of the southwestern Doñana National Park (SW Spain). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 229, 212–229.
Ruiz, F., RodrĂguez-Vidal, J., Abad, M., Cáceres, L. M., Carretero, M. I., Pozo, M., RodrĂguez-Llanes, J. M., GĂłmez-Toscano, F., Izquierdo, T., Font, E., Toscano, A. (2013). Sedimentological and geomorphological imprints of Holocene tsunamis in southwestern Spain: An approach to establish the recurrence period. Geomorphology, 203, 97–104.
Wright, L. D. (1977). Sediment transport and deposition at river mouths: A synthesis. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 88, 857–868.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Morales, J.A., PĂ©rez-Alberti, A. (2019). Introducing the Spanish Coast. In: Morales, J. (eds) The Spanish Coastal Systems. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93169-2_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93169-2_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-93168-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-93169-2
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)