Development and setting of the Alcudia Bay beach–dune system (Mallorca, Spain)

• Published in: Geomorphology (Amsterdam, Netherlands) Vol. 110; no. 3; pp. 172 - 181
• Main Authors: Servera, Jaume, Gelabert, Bernadí, Rodríguez-Perea, Antonio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 15-09-2009; Elsevier
• Subjects: Accommodation space; Beach–dune system; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Exact sciences and technology; Geomorphology, landform evolution; Mallorca Island; Marine; Marine and continental quaternary; Parabolic dunes; Prevailing wind; Surficial geology; Iberian Peninsula; Europe; Majorca; Southern Europe; Balearic Islands; West Mediterranean; Mediterranean Sea; Spain; ANE, Spain; MED, Spain, Balearic Is., Mallorca; Beach–dune system; Parabolic dunes; Accommodation space; Prevailing wind; Mallorca Island; Beach-dune system; Neogene; maps; Quaternary; Tertiary; marshes; upper Tertiary; coastal dunes; Pliocene; beaches; dunes; winds; bays; Cenozoic; Phanerozoic; landform evolution
• ISSN: 0169-555X; 1872-695X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.geomorph.2009.04.008

The beach–dune system of Alcudia Bay is located in the north of the island of Mallorca. The system includes both simple and compound parabolic dunes formed by N to NNE winds and is made up of two dune areas with different dynamics: 1) the northern area, where, despite the fact that the source of beach sediment is from the south, dunes are formed by northerly winds and develop a narrow and linear barrier which separates a marsh from the bay; and 2) the southern area, where complex parabolic dunes formed by north-northeasterly winds, prograde south-southwest landward extending several kilometers inland. The broad pattern of the dunefield size is limited to the southeast by a mountain range and to the west by the effects of a topographic corridor, oriented north–south, which channels the prevailing northerly wind, causing a southward dune progression and limiting the westward extension of the dunefield.