Definition
On Earth, ría is a drowned river valley, which has developed on rocky or hilly coasts, submerged as a result of a relative sea level rise, tectonic changes, or a combination of both.
While the major part of the total surface of a ría has marine conditions and wave-dominated processes that control the distribution of sedimentary facies, only in the river mouths that flow into the ría can estuarine processes be found. While the exposed areas are characterized by sandy bottoms near the shore and shallow depths, from the inner to the outer zone of the ría the sediments grade from silty to sandy mud in deeper areas. From an aerial view, funnel-shaped geometry and deep entrances are visible with a considerable reduction in both dimensions upstream. Cross sections show large trough-shaped valleys with flat bottoms, except towards the headboard area where they commonly have a well-defined main channel bordered on both sides by lateral shoals (Vilas et al. 2010).
Category
A type of ...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Carlé W (1947) Las Rías Bajas Gallegas en versión de J. Gómez Llarena. Estudios Geográficos 35:323–330
Castaing P, Guilcher A (1995) Geomorphology and sedimentology of Rias. In: Perillo GME (ed) Geomorphology and sedimentology of estuaries. Developments in sedimentology 53. Elsevier Science, Amsterdam, pp 69–111
Evans G, Prego R (2003) Rias, estuaries and incised valleys: is a ria an estuary? Mar Geol 196:171–175
Méndez G, Vilas F (2005) Geological antecedents of the Rias Baixas (Galicia, northwest Iberian Peninsula). J Mar Syst 54:195–207
Nonn H (1966) Les régions cotières de la Galice (Espagne). Étude géomorphologique. Publications de la Faculté des Lettres de l’Université de Strasbourg, Paris
Pannekoek AJ (1966) The Ría problem. The role of antecedence, deep weathering, and Pleistocene slop-wash in the formation of the West-Galician rías. Tijdschr. K Ned Aardr Gemotsch 83:289–297
Perillo GME (1995) Geomorphology and sedimentology of estuaries. An introduction. Developments in sedimentology, vol 53. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 1–16
Rey D, Mohamed K, Bernabeu AM, Rubio B, y Vilas F (2005) Early diagenesis of magnetic minerals in marine transitional environments: geochemical signatures of hydrodynamic forcing. Mar Geol 215:215–233
Ruiz-Villarreal M, Montero P, Taboada JJ, Prego R, Leitão PC, Pérez-Villar V (2002) Hydrodynamic model study of the Ria de Pontevedra under estuarine conditions. Estuar Coast Shelf S 54:101–113
Vilas F, Bernabeu AM, Méndez G (2005) Sediment distribution pattern in the Rias Baixas (NW Spain): main facies and hydrodynamic dependence. J Mar Syst 54:261–276
Vilas F, Bernabeu AM, Rubio B, Rey D (2010) Estuarios, Rías y Llanuras intermareales. In: Arche A (ed) Sedimentología. Del proceso físico a la cuenca sedimentaria. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Madrid, pp 619–673
Vilas F, Nombela MA, García-Gil E, García-Gil S, Alejo I, Rubio B, Pazos O (1995) Cartografía de Sedimentos Submarinos de las Rías de Vigo y Pontevedra. Xunta de Galicia, Consellería dePesca, Marisqueo y Acuicultura (ed) 5 Mapas, 32 pp
Von Richthofen F (1886) Führer für Forschungsreisende. Janecke, Hanover
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this entry
Cite this entry
Vilas, F., Rey, D., Bernabeu, A.M., Rubio, B. (2015). Ría. In: Hargitai, H., Kereszturi, Á. (eds) Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3134-3_530
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3134-3_530
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-3133-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-3134-3
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences