Vulnerability of Subaerial and Submarine Landscapes: The Sand Falls in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

Abstract

The coastal landscape of the south of the Baja California peninsula provides significant socio-economic benefits based on tourism. An analysis of coastal vulnerability was conducted for Cabo San Lucas, considering wave climate conditions, sediment characterization, beach profiles, and the historical occurrence of coastline changes, hurricanes, and El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events. The coastal scenery was also classified considering the landscape value of the environment from a touristic point of view, based on human and natural interactions on the landscape. Results show that the vulnerability increases close to the submarine sand falls, near intense urbanization, in resort areas, and at locations with narrow beach and dune widths. The degree of vulnerability along the coast alters abruptly, as urban and recreational sites alternate with natural sites. This coastline has seen exponential development since the 1980s, resulting in highly vulnerable areas with a low, and decreasing, touristic value, as the landscape has been changed into an urban settlement with limited natural attractions. Urban and recreational settlements threaten to cover dunes and reservoirs of natural sediments, increasingly affecting vulnerability in the area as well as the landscape values of many parts of the coast, including the submarine sand falls.

Most Attractive Scenic Sites of the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast: Characterization and Sensitivity to Natural and Human Factors

“…A few preselected sites such as Butamyata (Sinemorets) or Blatoto Alepu (also known as drivers' beach; Primorsko) were visited but, finally, not chosen, because of their low scenic quality. Cape Emine was finally not assessed because of the very regrettable condition of the access pathway, which required a walk estimated > 1.5 h. When constant alongshore scenic conditions were observed, adjacent sectors were joined together [54,55], giving finally a total of 16 coastal sites with different coastal lengths, from a 62 m in length pocket beach, i.e., Lipite PB (point 2, Figure 1), to a 6770 m long beach, i.e., Durankulak (point 15, Figure 1), and covering a total of c. 32 km, i.e., 8% of the total coastal length of Bulgaria. As previously stated, the Coastal Scenic Evaluation System (CSES) [39][40][41] is a method based on the evaluation of 26 parameters, 18 of which are physical and eight are human (Table 1).…”

The complexity of studying coasts: From forms and processes to management

“…Coastal vulnerability is commonly assessed through the application of indices that combine different variables involved in the degree of coastal exposition to risky processes, human impacts on coasts, socioeconomic activities developed on them, etc. (Alberico et al, 2017;Bagdanaviciute et al, 2019;Alcérreca-Huerta et al, 2020). Coastal vulnerability assessment is applied to both natural and historicalcultural heritage elements (Peña-Alonso et al, 2018;Mattei et al, 2019;Rodríguez-Rosales et al, 2021).…”

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“…Coastal vulnerability is commonly assessed through the application of indices that combine different variables involved in the degree of coastal exposition to risky processes, human impacts on coasts, socioeconomic activities developed on them, etc. (Alberico et al, 2017;Bagdanaviciute et al, 2019;Alcérreca-Huerta et al, 2020). Coastal vulnerability assessment is applied to both natural and historicalcultural heritage elements (Peña- Mattei et al, 2019;Rodríguez-Rosales et al, 2021).…”