Grupo de Geografía Física y Medio Ambiente, Instituto de Oceanografía y Cambio Global, IOCAG, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, ULPGC. Spain.
Grupo de Geografía Física y Medio Ambiente, Instituto de Oceanografía y Cambio Global, IOCAG, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, ULPGC. Spain; Geoturvol Research Group, Departamento de Geografía e Historia, Facultad de Humanidades, Universidad de La Laguna. Spain.
J Environ Manage. 2023 Jan 1;325(Pt B):116645. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.116645. Epub 2022 Nov 2.
Beach-dune systems are fragile ecosystems vulnerable to changes, especially those associated to human activities. This study focuses on El Inglés beach (Canary Islands, Spain), which is located on the eastern limit of the Maspalomas dunefield. This is the sediment input to the dunefield, and vehicles that provide urban-touristic services circulate every day, most notably heavy duty machinery responsible for beach cleaning. The aim of this study is to make a first methodological approach and a quantitative and empirical analysis of the long-term environmental effects, especially on the topography and geomorphology, that mechanical beach cleaning services could have on the aeolian dynamics, using as an indicator the vehicles tracks mapping. The methodology is divided into four sections: i) a spatiotemporal study of vehicle tracks on the beach; ii) a field campaign to observe beach cleaning activities in situ and compile data; iii) an interview with the local team responsible for beach cleaning; and iv) a general analysis of the aeolian dynamics over the almost last two decades. Results shown not only a high correlation between vehicle tracks and heavy duty machinery tracks, but also the variation in vehicle track density was proven to follow changes in the management process and the number of tourists. Different track densities varied depending on the intensity of the presence of visitors and hence the intensity of beach use, which is not homogeneous throughout the beach. A study of the deflation surfaces as erosion process found that they not only remain steady but even increase in some areas with high vehicle track densities, with no sedimentary gain. Although management activities like cleaning and levelling may not have a direct impact on the dunefield, they were positively correlated to deflation surfaces, increasing sediment loss in the beach area. These activities could be leading an artificially-maintained steady beach contrary to documented sedimentary loss in the dunefield. In conclusion, the pioneer approach of analysing the vehicle traffic through tracks monitoring, especially beach cleaning activities, has shown the viability to detect long-term effects on the sedimentary dynamics, including sediment loss to the foredune and, therefore, inside the system.
海滩沙丘系统是脆弱的生态系统，容易受到变化的影响，尤其是与人类活动相关的变化。本研究聚焦于西班牙大加那利岛的英格里尔斯海滩，该海滩位于马斯拉莫斯沙丘区的东限。这里是沙丘区的泥沙输入地，每天都有提供城市旅游服务的车辆在流动，其中最引人注目的是负责海滩清洁的重型机械。本研究旨在对机械海滩清洁服务对风沙动力的长期环境影响，特别是对地形和地貌的影响，进行初步的方法学探讨和定量实证分析，采用车辆轨迹测绘作为指标。该方法分为四个部分：i）海滩上车辆轨迹的时空研究；ii）实地考察以观察现场的海滩清洁活动并收集数据；iii）对负责海滩清洁的当地团队进行访谈；iv）对过去近二十年的风沙动力进行综合分析。结果不仅表明车辆轨迹与重型机械轨迹之间存在高度相关性，而且还证明了车辆轨迹密度的变化与管理过程和游客数量的变化有关。不同的轨迹密度取决于游客的存在强度和因此海滩使用的强度，而这些在整个海滩上并不均匀。对作为侵蚀过程的吹蚀面的研究发现，它们不仅保持稳定，而且在某些车辆轨迹密度较高的区域甚至增加，没有沉积物的增加。尽管清洁和平整等管理活动可能不会对沙丘区直接产生影响，但它们与吹蚀面呈正相关，增加了海滩区的泥沙损失。这些活动可能导致人为维持的稳定海滩，与沙丘区记录的泥沙损失形成对比。总之，通过跟踪监测分析车辆交通，特别是海滩清洁活动，这种开创性的方法已显示出检测泥沙动力长期影响的可行性，包括向前滨输运的泥沙损失，从而影响整个系统。
