Abstract
The Guadiana Estuary is a good example of rock bounded estuary which consists of a single narrow estuarine channel with a meandering morphology imposed by faults systems affecting the hard geology of the substrate. Only along the last kilometers of the estuarine channel, the valley opens when Cenozoic Guadalquivir Basin formations appear. In this area, the Guadiana develops a prograding coastal system constituted by successive sandy barriers separated by salt marshes which configure a wave dominated delta. This progradation is possible thanks an interaction of the coastal agents which enhanced the silting in addition to a good availability of sediments. This chapter explains an explanation of the dynamic functioning of the open coastal environment, so as the resulting facies model.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bettencourt, P. (1988). Contribution of the sedimentological study for the understanding of the recent evolution of a barrier island system (Algarve, South of Portugal). Bulletin Institut de Géologie du Bassin d’Aquitaine, 44, 81–96.
Borrego, J., Morales, J. A., & Pendon, J. G. (1993). Holocene filling of an estuarine lagoon along the mesotidal coast of Huelva: The Piedras River mouth, southwestern Spain. J Coast Res, 9, 242–254.
ChÃcharo, M. A., ChÃcharo, L., Galvão, H., Barbosa, A., Marques, M. H., Andrade, J. P., et al. (2001). Status of the Guadiana estuary (south Portugal) during 1996–1998: An ecohydrological approach. Aquatic Ecosystem Health Management, 4, 1–17.
Costa, M., Silva, R., & Vitorino, J. (2001). Contribução para o estudo do clima de agitação marÃtima na costa portuguesa. In: Proceedings of 2as Jornadas Portuguesas de Engenharia Costeira e Portuária. International Navigation Association PIANC, Sines, Portugal.
Davis, R. A., Jr., Knowles, S. C., & Bland, M. J. (1989). Role of hurricanes in the Holocene stratigraphy of estuaries: Examples from the Gulf Coast of Florida. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, 59, 1052–1061.
Delgado, J., Boski, T., Nieto, J. M., Pereira, L., Moura, D., & Gomes, A., et al. (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.
Fitzgerald, D. M., Buynevich, I. V., Fenster, M. S., & McKinlay, P. A. (2000a). Sandy dynamics at the mouth of a rock-bound, tide-dominated estuary. Sedimentary Geology, 131, 25–49.
FitzGerald, D. M., Kraus, N. C., & Hands, E. B. (2000b). Natural mechanisms of sediment bypassing at tidal inlets (pp. 9): US Army Corps of Engineers.
Garel, E. (2017a). Present dynamics of the Guadiana estuary. In: D. Moura, A. Gomes, I. Mendes, J. AnÃlbal (Eds.), Guadiana River estuary—investigating the past, present and future, pp. 15–37. 1st edition. University of Algarve. Faro, ISBN 978-989-8859-18-1. http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/9887.
Garel, E. (2017b). Efficient dredging strategy for channel maintenance of the Guadiana ebb-delta. Proc of Coastal Dynamics 2017, Helsingor, Denmark, paper 232, 12 p.
Garel, E., & D’Alimonte, D. (2017). Continuous river discharge monitoring with bottom-mounted current profilers at narrow tidal estuaries. Continental Shelf Research, 133, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csr.2016.12.001.
Garel, E., & Ferreira, Ó. (2011). Effects of the Alqueva Dam on sediment fluxes at the mouth of the Guadiana estuary. Journal of Coastal Research, 64, 1505–1509.
Garel, E., Pinto, L., Santos, A., & Ferreira, Ó. (2009). Tidal and river discharge forcing upon water and sediment circulation at a rock-bound estuary (Guadiana estuary, Portugal). Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 84, 269–281.
Garel, E., Sousa, C., Ferreira, Ó., & Morales, J. A. (2014). Decadal morphological response of an ebb-tidal delta and down-drift beach to artificial breaching and inlet stabilisation. Geomorphology, 216, 13–25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2014.03.031.
Garel, E., Sousa, C., & Ferreira, Ó. (2015). Sand bypass and updrift beach evolution after jetty construction at an ebb-tidal delta. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 167, 4–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2015.05.044.
Hayes, M. O. (1979). Barrier island morphology as a function of tidal and wave regime. In S. P. Leatherman (Ed.), Barrier Islands (pp. 1–29). New York, NY: Academic Press.
Kana, T. W., Hayter, E. J., & Work, P. A. (1999). Mesoscale sediment transport at Southeastern US tidal inlets: Conceptual model applicable to mixed energy settings. Journal of Coastal Research, 15(2), 303–313.
Kraus, N. C. (2000). Reservoir model of ebb-tidal delta evolution and sand bypassing. Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering, 126, 305–313.
Lobo, F. J., Plaza, F., González, R., Dias, J. M. A., Kapsimalis, V., Mendes, I., et al. (2004). Estimations of bedload sediment transport in the Guadiana estuary (SW Iberian Peninsula) during low river discharge periods. Journal of Coastal Research, 41, 12–26.
Morales, J. A. (1993). SedimentologÃa del Estuario del Guadiana (S.W. España-Portugal) (Ph.D. Thesis). University of Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain, 300 pp.
Morales, J. A. (1997). Evolution and facies architecture of the mesotidal Guadiana River delta (S.W. Spain–Portugal). Marine Geology, 138, 127–148.
Morales, J. A., Pendon, J. G., & Borrego, J. (1994). Origen y evolución de flechas litorales recientes en la desembocadura del estuario mesomareal del rio Guadiana (Huelva, SW España). Revista de la Sociedad Geologica de Espana, 7, 155–167.
Morales, J. A., Delgado, I., & Gutiérrez-Mas, J. M. (2006). Sedimentary characterisation of bed types along the Guadiana Estuary (SW Europe) before the construction of the Alqueva Dam. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 70, 117–131.
Oliveira, J. T. (1990). The south Portuguese zone. Stratigraphy and synsedimentary tectonism. In R. D. Dallmeyer & E. MartÃnez GarcÃa (Eds.), Pre-mesozoic geology of Iberia (pp. 334–347). Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
Pilkey, O. H., Neal, W. J., Monteiro, J. H., & Dias, J. M. A. (1989). Algarve barrier islands: A noneoastal-plain system in Portugal. Journal of Coastal Research, 5, 239–261.
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., Garel, E. (2019). The Guadiana River Delta. In: Morales, J. (eds) The Spanish Coastal Systems. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93169-2_24
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93169-2_24
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)