The Ebro River Delta

Estuarine Mapping and Eco-Geomorphological Characterization for Potential Application in Conservation and Management: Three Study Cases along the Iberian Coast

“…Nevertheless, this island has been gradually eroded through decades by wave action and also because of the lack of river sediment input, as the discharges of this river have been intensively regulated since the beginning of the 20th century [35]. As a consequence, San Antonio Island is presently recording erosion rates of almost 30 m/year in the river mouth area [35], causing the strong negative rates in overwash deposits shown in Figure 8 (more than −40 ha/year), which were recorded only for San Antonio Island. The possible disappearance of San Antonio Island in future years could expose El Garxal to eastern, energetic waves and very probably would cause its disappearance and that of its associated features and, as consequence, the elimination of the current river mouth complex, i.e., the two hemi-deltas.…”

“…The Ebro River Delta mouth (EBR, Figure 1 (3)) is located on the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula and is one of the most important deltas in the western Mediterranean [34]. The extension of the emerged area is 325 km 2 , which represents only 15% of the total area of the delta [35]. It is a low-lying area, with elevations not exceeding 5-6 m, and around 50% of the total surface lies below 0.5 m above MSL [36].…”

“…The Ebro Delta has a microtidal regime, with a MSTR of about 0.20 m [37], which gives a greater importance to the meteorological tide component. It is a wave-dominated system [35], and the waves come mainly from three directions: E, S and NW. The first is the dominant direction due to its frequency and energetic components, and in fact is responsible for the main transport of sediment in the mouth of the Ebro River Delta.…”

“…Together with the action of waves and winds, this island/hemi-delta, mainly formed by sandy features, facilitated the formation of littoral/dune ridges on the other side of the channel, where they were controlled by wave and wind action [59]. Nevertheless, this island has been gradually eroded through decades by wave action and also because of the lack of river sediment input, as the discharges of this river have been intensively regulated since the beginning of the 20th century [35]. As a consequence, San Antonio Island is presently recording erosion rates of almost 30 m/year in the river mouth area [35], causing the strong negative rates in overwash deposits shown in Figure 8 (more than -40 ha/year), which were recorded To maintain the same x-scale for the three study sites, the total rates of change in the relict littoral ridge, relict dune ridge and overwash deposit in the EBR, which showed rates of change greater than ± 2 ha, are indicated numerically on each bar.…”

Vulnerability Analysis of the Riumar Dune Field in El Garxal Coastal Wetland (Ebro Delta, Spain)

“…Winds blowing from the NW are much stronger and generate a wind-driven littoral drift current flowing to the South, although the limited fetch generates not very energetic waves [20]. The Ebro Delta has a microtidal regime, characterized by maximum astronomical and meteorological tides of 0.25 m and 1 m, respectively [21]. The coastline evolution has been studied by numerous researchers ( [20][21][22][23][24][25], among others).…”