Abstract
The dynamics of sorted bedforms on the inner shelf off El Masnou coast (NW Mediterranean) was investigated based on time-series of swath bathymetry and backscatter and grain-size analysis of grab samples spanning 4 years (2006–2009). The sorted bedforms are superimposed on the edge of a shallow infralittoral wedge with an orientation nearly perpendicular to the slope and oblique to the shoreline. They commonly display lateral asymmetry in backscatter, with the high backscatter domain on the depression and on the eastern side of the bedforms. The short-term evolution of these bedforms evidenced changes in the location of the bedform boundaries, widening and narrowing, predominant migration towards the southwest in the direction of the net alongshore sediment transport, and formation of new sorted bedforms. The analysis of repeated bathymetries also revealed the impact of dredging activities on the sorted bedforms, resulting in the destruction of part of the bedform pattern, which started to recover over the subsequent months. This behaviour suggests that the sorted bedforms off El Masnou are persistent and dynamic over a 4 year time span.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Coco, G., Murray, A. B., Green, M.O., Thieler, E.R., Hume, T.M. (2007). Sorted bed forms as self-organized patterns: 2. Complex forcing scenarios. J. Geophys. Res. 112, F03016. doi:10.1029/2006JF000666.
De Falco, G., Budillon, F., Conforti, A., Di Bitetto, M., Di Martino, G., Innangi, S., Simeone, S., Tonielli, R. (2015). Sorted bedforms over transgressive deposits along the continental shelf of western Sardinia (Mediterranean Sea). Mar. Geol. 359, 75–88. doi:10.1016/j.margeo.2014.11.008.
DGPC (Direcció General de Protecció Civil). (1986). Investigación tecnológica de las acciones a tomar para la estabilidad de las playas del Maresme. Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain.
Diesing, M., Kubicki, A., Winter, C., Schwarzer, K. (2006). Decadal scale stability of sorted bedforms, German Bight, southeastern North Sea. Cont. Shelf Res. 26, 902–916. doi:10.1016/j.csr.2006.02.009.
Durán, R., Nuez, M., Alonso, B., Ercilla, G., Estrada F., CasasD., Farrán M. (2008). Assessment of sand trapped by coastal structures towards better management. El Masnou (Maresme, Catalunya). Geotemas 10, 511–514.
Durán, R., Canals, M., Lastras, G., Micallef, A., Amblas, D., Pedrosa-Pàmies, R., Sanz, J.L. (2013). Sediment dynamics and post-glacial evolution of the continental shelf around the Blanes submarine canyon head (NW Mediterranean). Prog. Oceanogr. 118, 28–46. doi:10.1016/j.pocean.2013.07.031.
Ercilla, G., Estrada, F., Casas, D., Durán, R., Nuez, M., Alonso, B., Farrán, M. (2010). The El Masnou infralittoral sedimentary environment (Barcelona province, NW Mediterranean Sea): morphology and Holocene seismic stratigraphy. Sci. Mar. 74, 179–196. doi:10.3989/scimar.2010.74n1179.
Ferrini, V.L., Flood, R.D. (2005). A comparison of rippled scour depressions identified with multibeam sonar: evidence of sediment transport in inner shelf environments. Cont. Shelf Res. 25, 1979–1995. doi:10.1016/j.csr.2005.07.002.
Goff, J. A., L. A. Mayer, P. Traykovski, I. Buynevich, R. Wilkens, R. Raymond, G. Glang, R. Evans, L., Olson, H., Jenkins, C. (2005). Detailed investigation of sorted bedforms, or ‘‘rippled scour depressions’’, within the Martha’s Vineyard Coastal Observatory, Massachusetts, Cont. Shelf Res. 25, 461–484. doi:10.1016/j.csr.2004.09.019.
Goldstein, E.B., Murray, A. B., Coco, G. (2011). Sorted bedform pattern evolution: persistence, destruction and self-organized intermittency. Geophys. Res. Lett. 38, L24402. doi:10.1029/2011GL049732.
Hume, T. M., Trembanis, A. C., Hill, A., Liefting, R., Stephens, S. (2003). Spatially variable, temporally stable, sedimentary facies on an energetic inner shelf, in Coastal Sediments’03 edited by A. Press, Am. Soc. Civ. Eng., Reston, Va. 14 pp.
Liquete, C., Canals, M., Lastras, G., Amblas, D., Urgeles, R., De Mol, B., De Batist, M., Hughes-Clarke, J.E. (2007). Long-term development and current status of the Barcelona continental shelf: a source-to-sink approach. Cont. Shelf Res. 27, 1779–1800. doi:10.1016/j.csr.2007.02.007.
Lo Iacono, C., Guillén, J. (2008). Environmental conditions for gravelly and pebbly dunes and sorted bedforms on a moderate-energy inner shelf (Marettimo Island, Italy, western Mediterranean). Cont. Shelf Res. 28, 245–256. doi:10.1016/j.csr.2007.08.005.
Murray, A.B., Thieler, E.R. (2004). A new hypothesis and exploratory model for the formation of large-scale inner-shelf sediment sorting and “rippled scour depressions.” Cont. Shelf Res. 24, 295–315. doi:10.1016/j.csr.2003.11.001.
Trembanis, A.C., Hume, T.M. (2011). Sorted bedforms on the inner shelf off northeastern New Zealand: spatiotemporal relationships and potential paleo-environmental implications. Geo-Marine Lett. 31, 203–214. doi:10.1007/s00367-010-0225-8.
Acknowledgments
This work was funded by the European BEACHMED-e project, an INTERREG IIIC Regional Framework Operation, and the FORMED project (CGL2012-33989) funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. The authors wish to thank the Secretaría General de Pesca and Tragsa for the 2009 Espace Project dataset. R. Durán is supported by a CSIC JAE-Doc contract co-funded by the FSE.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Durán, R., Alonso, B., Ercilla, G., Estrada, F., Casas, D., Muñoz, A. (2017). Dynamics of Sorted Bedforms on a Shallow Infralittoral Prograding Wedge Influenced by Dredging (El Masnou, NW Mediterranean). In: Guillén, J., Acosta, J., Chiocci, F., Palanques, A. (eds) Atlas of Bedforms in the Western Mediterranean. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33940-5_22
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33940-5_22
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-33938-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-33940-5
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)