Spatial beach morphodinamics : an example from Canary Islands, Spain

Abstract

A new concept of beach morphodynamics is developed, based on the alongshore variations of the arribing wave energy. A data set of beach face profiles from Las Canteras Beach (Canary Islands, Spain) is used in this work to show the existing relationship between the profiles average shape, the active sweep zone, the volume changes and the foreshore slope variability. Three homogeneous sectors are identified along the beach according with the governing processes and associated morphologies. Both seasonal and long tenn changes are described and analized for each sector.