Recent evolution of the tidal prisms at the inlets of the western sector of the Ria Formosa, south coast of Portugal

Unravelling the effects of treated wastewater discharges on the water quality in a coastal lagoon system (Ria Formosa, South Portugal): Relevance of hydrodynamic conditions

“…At OE area, a deeper and wider main channel near one the main RF lagoon inlets (Jacob and Cravo, 2019), high tidal exchange rate promotes rapid advection, mixing, dispersion, and dilution of WWTPs effluents and related constituents, explaining the relative improvement in water quality, in respect with FNW area, and the absence of along transect variability. High exchange of lagoon water and adjacent coastal seawater dilutes and horizontally exports bacterial indicators of faecal contamination (Martins et al, 2006;Cravo et al, 2015;Veríssimo et al, 2019), nutrients (ammonium, phosphate; Newton et al, 2003;Newton and Mudge, 2005;Falcão and Vale, 2003;Cravo et al, 2015), and phytoplankton biomass into the coastal area (Barbosa, 2006(Barbosa, , 2010Cravo et al, 2019;Rosa et al, 2019), being generally responsible for the reduced susceptibility of the RF lagoon to eutrophication (Tett et al, 2003;Newton and Mudge, 2005;Mudge et al, 2008;Domingues et al, 2015Domingues et al, , 2017aDomingues et al, , 2017b.…”

On the Tidal Prism: The Roles of Basin Extension, Bottom Friction and Inlet Cross-Section

“…Barrier coasts and tidal inlets are also important for their ecological, economic and touristic roles, as they are intensely used by human activities linked to different productive systems [14]. In many cases, tidal channels connect the open sea with harbor sites located behind the back-barrier, increasing the socio-economical value of these natural connections.…”

Environmental triggers of faunal changes revealed by benthic foraminiferal monitoring

“…The inlets, their sedimentary dynamics, water transport and exchange with adjacent coastal sea have received much attention (Cravo and Jacob, 2019;Morris et al, 2001;Rosa et al, 2019;Vila-Concejo et al, 2004). Literature data suggested that the Ancão inlet lost hydraulic efficiency during the south-eastward migration in the 2000s and the tidal prism decreased (Jacob and Cravo, 2019;Vila-Concejo et al, 2003), while other studies considered the influence on its hydrodynamic behaviour and tidal prism as rather low (Pacheco et al, 2007). Our new data suggested that Ancão inlet relocation in 2015 indeed has effected the hydraulic parameters in distal parts of Ria Formosa lagoon.…”

“…In winter 2015, two new conduits were built under the dam and the Ancão inlet was relocated ca. 2.9 km to the Northwest on the peninsula (Jacob and Cravo, 2019). These measures were intended to effect a faster tidal flushing and hence better drainage and ventilation of the northwestern Ria Formosa intertidal area.…”