Biogeomorphological processes in an arid transgressive dunefield as indicators of human impact by urbanization

Abstract

Urban and tourist developments can have long-lasting impacts on coastal environments and fundamentally alter the evolution of coastal dune systems. This is the case of the Maspalomas dunefield (Gran Canaria, Canary Islands), hosting one of the largest tourist resorts in Spain. The resort was built on top of a sedimentary terrace at 25 m above sea level (El Inglés) in the 1960s, and has subsequently affected local winds and therefore aeolian sediment transport patterns. Buildings on the terrace deflect the winds to the south of the dunefield, where the rate of sediment transport accelerated. A shadow zone appeared to the lee side of the resort with a consequent decrease in wind speed and aeolian sediment transport and an increase in vegetation cover. In this paper, first we characterize the environmental changes around El Inglés terrace in recent decades, and describe the changes in the shadow zone through an analysis of the evolution of sedimentary volumes and vegetation characteristics (density, spatial patterns, and plants communities). A series of historical aerial photographs, recent orthophotos and digital elevation models obtained by digital photogrammetry and LiDAR, as well as fieldwork were used to characterize plant communities and spatial-temporal changes in erosive landforms. Results show changes in the pattern and migration rates of dunes located at the southern edge of the urbanization, as well as the formation of blowouts and large deflation areas, where the vegetation increases in density and number of plant communities. We discuss eco-anthropogenic factors that have produced these environmental changes.

Airflow dynamics, vegetation and aeolian erosive processes in a shadow zone leeward of a resort in an arid transgressive dune system

“…The aim of this study is to characterize and analyze aeolian processes in the aeolian shadow zone of the Playa del Inglés resort, and to relate local wind flows to topography, vegetation and distance to buildings. This follows previous suggestions by Garcia-Romero et al (2019) who highlighted the need to acquire high temporal and spatial resolution wind records in this area to allow detailed quantification of airflow processes involved in the evolution of this erosional and/or stabilizing landscape, as well as to identify the reasons for the erosional landforms on similar distances downwind of the buildings.…”

“…Also, three erosional aeolian landforms, located at a distance of about 400-500 meters from the resort, are expanding. These erosional landforms are the result of wind acceleration at a local scale resulting from the interaction of the buildings on the airflow (García-Romero et al, 2017;2019). Mir-Gual et al (2015) speculated that streets between the buildings on top of El Inglés terrace can act as wind corridors that channel the airflow, locally increasing wind speed in the shadow zone and generating these three erosional landforms.…”

Analyzing Mega City-Regions through Integrating Urbanization and Eco-Environment Systems: A Case Study of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region

“…The literature of ecological and environmental science before the 1990s viewed the urbanization process merely as environmental ills that caused degradation of ecosystem services. The first negative we see in urbanization is how it affects biodiversity [21]. Over the past century, the species extinct at the speed of 1000 times of historical rate.…”

Biogeomorphological responses of nebkhas to historical long-term land uses in an arid coastal aeolian sedimentary system

“…Meanwhile, more recent land uses and the abandonment of traditional ones have led to the stabilization of sand sheets as the result of the plant recolonization processes (Tsoar and Blumberg, 2002;Kutiel et al, 2004;Marrero-Rodríguez et al, 2020). In other studies, recent land uses, associated especially with urban-tourism development, have been attributed with causing alterations to wind dynamics and a lower sand input, with a consequent reduction or disappearance of mobile dunes or an increase in deflation surfaces and stabilized dunes (Hernández-Calvento et al, 2014;Smith et al, 2017;García-Romero et al, 2016, 2019a, 2019b).…”

“…The coastal aeolian systems of the planet have been exposed to a process of anthropic degradation related to traditional activities such as grazing, obtaining firewood or agriculture (Tsoar and Blumberg, 2002;Kutiel et al, 2004;Levin and Ben-Dor, 2004;Provoost et al, 2011) and to recent uses such as aggregate extraction, the construction of urbanizations and tourist infrastructure, and recreational uses (Nordstrom and McCluskey, 1985;Nordstrom, 1994;Nordstrom, 2004;Smith et al, 2017;García-Romero et al, 2019b;Delgado-Fernández et al, 2019). All these uses have induced environmental transformations whose consequences have been, among others, changes in landforms and aeolian sedimentary activity (dune stabilization) (Cabrera- Vega et al, 2013;Hernández-Cordero et al, 2018), reductions of pioneer plants in mobile dunes and species richness (Kutiel et al, 1999;Curr et al, 2000;Dolnik et al, 2011;Faggi and Dadon, 2011), sediment remobilization (Arens et al, 2013), accelerated erosion processes (García-Romero et al, 2016;García-Romero et al, 2019b), alteration of the direction and speed of wind flow (Hernández-Calvento et al, 2014;Smith et al, 2017;García-Romero et al, 2019a), and on occasions surface reduction (Hernández-Cordero et al, 2018). It can be argued, therefore, that most of the surviving ecosystems are an expression of their resilience and that their evolution after the land uses is not restricted to the recovery of the original functions and characteristics but to the adaptation and reorganization of the components of the landscape to the post-disturbance situation (Kombiadou et al, 2019).…”